I'm not the only one to be surprised by Barack Obama's peace prize. Several previous prize winners have weighed in with their opinions, but for some reason no-one has yet asked for mine - so here they are anyway :-)
I'm an Obama fan, mostly due to him not being Bush (or even ...um... whatshisname who lost the last election). However, I do feel that the award that I so righteously earned two years ago has been somewhat devalued by being shared with someone who has achieved so little in comparison with me. Obama's only real achievement seems to be that he has not yet invaded a third-world country (though he still occupies several, of course, and just yesterday announced that he would not even negotiate over plans concerning the continued occupation of Japan). Perhaps that is good enough for a prize these days...
I'm an Obama fan, mostly due to him not being Bush (or even ...um... whatshisname who lost the last election). However, I do feel that the award that I so righteously earned two years ago has been somewhat devalued by being shared with someone who has achieved so little in comparison with me. Obama's only real achievement seems to be that he has not yet invaded a third-world country (though he still occupies several, of course, and just yesterday announced that he would not even negotiate over plans concerning the continued occupation of Japan). Perhaps that is good enough for a prize these days...
2 comments:
At first I had the same reaction, but then some articles reminded me how much he's already begun with nuclear anti-proliferation, re-engaging with Russia and China (including canceling the ABM system that was getting Russia all worked up), making the US a positive, rather than negative force for climate agreements, etc.
These things have not yet come to full fruition, but the Peace Prize (unlike the others) has often been awarded to people in the process of an accomplishment rather than once it's finished. This has lead to some mistakes (cough, Kissinger). At least this one is unlikely to be such a mistake.
For what it's worth the committee reported that their selection of Obama was unanimous.
Ed Brayton has some harsh words about torture too.
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