[Vision2020] President Barack Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize

[Glenn Schwaller]

Hmmmm . . .   I find it sad when an award meant to honor the
achievements of a lifetime of hard work is reduced to partisan world
politics, and given on the basis of hopes and dreams of what may
happen.

World peace?  Shutting the prison at Guantanamo Bay was a key Obama
campaign promise.  How's that going?  The threat of Iran's nuclear
weapons production is now shown to be twice what was previously
believed and Obamas "push for peace" is to put "Iran  . . . on notice
that  . . .  they are going to have to come clean."  Now if that won't
stimutlate peace I suppose nothing will.  And I guess having your
Secretary of State comment that "she would "totally obliterate" Iran
if Iran attacked Israel" can't be construed as a deterrent for peace.
Of course not.

Chinese nuclear proliferation?  North Korea's nuclear proliferation?
Troops out of Iraq?  Troops out of Afghanistan?  Frightening surge in
suicide bombers?  Yes I must say our President has done much for
pushing for world peace.   Well I guess the feds did manage to bring
down a still wet-behind-the-ears bus driver and street coffee vendor
for turning hair bleach into bombs.  That in itself must be worth the
cool $1,000,000.

If Nobel prizes are to be given on the basis of one's dreams, visions
and hopes of accomplishment, I say rescind the 1989 Physics prize
given to Norman F. Ramsey, Hans G. Dehmelt and Wolfgang Paul (born in
1915, 1922 and 1913 - I would say that illustrates a lifetime of hard
work) and award it to B. Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann.  What
could be more fitting?

GS



On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 2:28 AM, Ted Moffett <starbliss at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/ap_on_re_eu/eu_nobel_peace/print
>
> President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
>
> By KARL RITTER and MATT MOORE, Associated Press Writers Karl Ritter And Matt
> Moore, Associated Press Writers 2 mins ago
>
> OSLO – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for
> "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
> cooperation between peoples," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his
> outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
>
> The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the
> Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less
> than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama's name had been
> mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed
> it was too early to award the president.
>
> "Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the
> world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the
> committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are
> to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are
> shared by the majority of the world's population."
>
> The committee said it attached special importance to Obama's vision of, and
> work for, a world without nuclear weapons.
>
> "Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics.
> Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the
> role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play,"
> the committee said.
>
> Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919.
> Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice
> President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate
> change.
>
> The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize.
>
> In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go "to
> the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity
> between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and
> the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
>
> Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, he
> said the peace prize should be given out by a five-member committee elected
> by the Norwegian Parliament. Sweden and Norway were united under the same
> crown at the time of Nobel's death.
>
> The committee has taken a wide interpretation of Nobel's guidelines,
> expanding the prize beyond peace mediation to include efforts to combat
> poverty, disease and climate change.
>
> ___
>
> Associated Press Writer Ian MacDougall contributed to this report.
> ------------------------------------------
> Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett
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