Nobel Prizes...

[Sonic Youth]

The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is turn on the computer, go to my Yahoo home page and peruse the headlines.

This one brought a smile to my lips. I love irony. The guy hasn't done anything but he sure talks a good game. Maybe this will inspire him to actually make good on some of his commitments.

He's not off to an auspicious start. The same day he wins the Nobel Prize, he goes off and bombs the moon. :p

[Big Magilla]

The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is turn on the computer, go to my Yahoo home page and peruse the headlines.

This one brought a smile to my lips. I love irony. The guy hasn't done anything but he sure talks a good game. Maybe this will inspire him to actually make good on some of his commitments.

[Sonic Youth]

I'm not saying they aren't full of shit.

This is as much a repudiation of the Bush administration as anything.

But, let's not drag down Obama on this. It wasn't his fault

I don't think anyone has said that. I think everyone agrees it's more a discredit to the Committee than to Obama.

(and the more we grouse about the situation, the more ammunition the right will unjustifiably have to throw at the president).

If something sucks, I will gladly say so, whatever the consequences, as is my right as a human being to state whatever opinion I have in whatever method I see fit. I'm not going to pussy out because of some imagined right-wing tyranny. Maybe it's possible that the right-wing was going to let this slip unnoticed were it not for the us irascible lefties speaking out. I'll just have to take that chance.

My hope is that this prize will give him some kind of global capital to push towards stronger international relations, to a cessation of violence in Afghanistan and to hopefully address some of the more fundamentally challenging problems around the world such as the issues in The Sudan.

So it's not really a prize. It's more like an endorsement? Gee, maybe the Committee should go into the newspaper editiorial business.

My hope is Obama declines the award. I would have tremendous respect if he did.



Edited By Sonic Youth on 1255099113

[OscarGuy]

I'm not saying they aren't full of shit.

This is as much a repudiation of the Bush administration as anything.

But, let's not drag down Obama on this. It wasn't his fault (and the more we grouse about the situation, the more ammunition the right will unjustifiably have to throw at the president).

My hope is that this prize will give him some kind of global capital to push towards stronger international relations, to a cessation of violence in Afghanistan and to hopefully address some of the more fundamentally challenging problems around the world such as the issues in The Sudan.

[mlrg]

Read the article, though, the committee was Unanimous and they said it was an encouragement for the things he's spoken openly about wanting to accomplish. They said it was similar to when they recognized Mikhail Gorbachev back in 1990. It makes some amount of sense. I'm still a little surprised they didn't wait until next year, but hey, it happened. There's no point crying over it.

Gorbachev won at the end of his work. Not for "encouragement".... And he tear down the Berlin wall!!

[Sonic Youth]

Read the article, though, the committee was Unanimous and they said it was an encouragement for the things he's spoken openly about wanting to accomplish. They said it was similar to when they recognized Mikhail Gorbachev back in 1990.

Then they're talking out of their asses. Gorbachev was near the end of his leadership when the honor was bestowed on him.

I read the commitee's reasons, and The Onion couldn't have written anything funnier. I will grant that, the Afghanistan fiasco notwithstanding, Obama is proving to be not bad at all on international matters. And he deserves the Medal of World Dominion for keeping Sarah Palin out of the White House. But you don't give a prize - particularly not a Nobel prize - for encouragement. You give it for acheivement. It's a summing up of your life's work.

I don't think there's any doubt that this was given not for Obama's acheivements, but as a poke in the Bush Adminstrations eye. Instead of tainting the aura that the Nobel carries, give them a few subpoena's instead.

[OscarGuy]

Read the article, though, the committee was Unanimous and they said it was an encouragement for the things he's spoken openly about wanting to accomplish. They said it was similar to when they recognized Mikhail Gorbachev back in 1990. It makes some amount of sense. I'm still a little surprised they didn't wait until next year, but hey, it happened. There's no point crying over it.

Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama...wow. I bet Bill Clinton is foaming at the mouth right now.

[OscarGuy]

I saw it when I was logging into Hotmail and thought surely it was a jest. So, I went to CNN and found it was true. I'm totally astounded. I'm shocked and awed.

I don't think it's time just yet and this is surely going to hurt more than it will help in certain circles, but DAMN.

I'm just shocked. I can't say that I'm not happy. Obama needs every bit of support he can get, but really? This is probably going to end up an SNL joke, but I wonder if it's not for the fact that he traveled the world trying to bolster the world's opinion of the U.S.

I don't know what to say. I'm not going to defend the action because I really do think it's the wrong time, but holy hell...wow. Just wow.

[mlrg]

The Nobel for Obama, at this stage, is totally RIDICULOUS. What has he done to deserve it?

[Penelope]

When I just read it on another forum, I thought it was a joke, too. The only thing I can think is that this is meant is a clear rubuke to the Bush administration rather than for anything Obama has done (which he hasn't).

[Okri]

I too thought you were joking Italiano.

[rain Bard]

It must be a joke. I'm stunned and not the least bit proud. Maybe if it were the Nobel Hope Prize...

[ITALIANO]

Although I seriously doubt all six prizes will go to Americans, can someone with a knowledge of these things say how frequently three of the prizes go to a specific country's citizens?

And now you even have the Nobel for Peace.

And I'm sorry but I won't join Oscar Guy's and the others' understandable pride. It's undeserved, or not yet deserved (though, of course, it's not the first time they give it to the wrong person). We all like Obama, but it's a bit too early, after just one year. Let's see what he will REALLY do about peace (I'm not so sure he will do too much).

And call me naive butI personally would never give such a prize to the President of a country like the US, with its death penalty, its soldiers everywhere, etc.

[Okri]

I wouldn't have expected Muller to win. Stunned, actually.

[Franz Ferdinand]

I am still holding my breath for Murakami to win Literature one day, but I've surprisingly read one of Muller's books (The Land of Green Plums). It was several years ago, but I remember really enjoying the sparse prose and emotional journey, I need to revisit it and discover some of her other works.