Obama an ‘unusual choice’ for Peace Prize

Barack Obama is being awarded for his diplomacy and negotiation, says Danish foreign minister

Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller has described the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama as an ’unusual choice’.

The minister, who is currently on a trip to Tajikstan, said it was rare that a politician was awarded such a prize so early in his career. Obama is currently nine months into his presidency.

‘Normally it’s first given when the results [of his work] have been shown but the committee chose him to show that the right way towards peace is via diplomacy and negotiation,’ Møller said.

Møller congratulated Obama on his award and said he was being honoured because of the new openness in US foreign policy.

The Nobel committee said it was awarding the prize to Obama because of the special importance of his vision of a world without nuclear weapons. He had also created a new climate in international politics.

The 10 million Swedish kroner prize will be handed over in Oslo on 10 December. The Nobel Prize committee lists the prize money in Swedish currency even though the prize is handed out in Norway.

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JoeThePlumber - He doesn't deserve it.

|2009-10-09 15:55:26

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.
You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never ran a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce

these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America ' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

TRUE - CHECK:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp
This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big
surprise! Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over
500,000 hits.

Constantin - .

|2009-10-09 17:32:52

"You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world."

Okay.

npandjmclay - Premature

|2009-10-09 19:07:04

The Nobel PP Committee are obviously idealists who like the cut of Obama's jib. But nine months seems a short time for a full assessment of a man's true worth. Shouldn't the prize mark achievemnts rather than
sincere intentions? The road to hell....and all that.

mig selv - Show some originality, please.

|2009-10-09 22:40:50

"TRUE - CHECK:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/youscareme.asp
This letter was sent to the NY Times but they never acknowledged it. Big
surprise! Since it hit the internet, however, it has had over
500,000 hits."

Dude. If you're going to be a crackpot, at least be your own crackpot.

denmark98 - JoethePlumber is a hypocrit

|2009-10-10 10:25:28

Joe,

It is a scary letter you wrote as it only shows how immoral and right wing you actually are...

You should have all been scared of GWB and Cheney but because they waged some war you forgot about the debt and forgot about Domestic America.

Obama give hope and that is 180 degree turn around from the last President.

God Bless America

ExpatVol - Most Overated President Ever.

|2009-10-11 14:49:34

Period. Do Something Already.

damestjernelys - Ahem..

|2009-10-11 15:01:20

"You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves."

Yesss... trying to reduce CO2 emissions is a bad and scary thing.. mmhmm.. though instead of only windmills, he should also look more into geothermal energy..

"You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world"

I'm sorry.. this made me spit my coffee out across my desk due to laughter. Highest standards of living in the world? Not according to UN surveys, WHO surveys, PISA/TIMSS/PIRLS surveys (these deal with education) or any other studies/surveys worth their salt.

Yang - The committee...

|2009-10-11 15:14:48

has teased many this time, as it did couple of times before.
It's the ever greatest contribution to the humanities in peace, that the U.S's president is free of contribution to the world's peace progress!

rantingbrit - Who deserved it then?

|2009-10-12 18:47:01

This was a prize given for ideals not accomplishments. Moreover, it is not the first time it has meant nothing... The prize has had an unhappy history.
Henry Kissinger – for carpet-bombing Vietnam?
Shimon Perez - for being the father of Israeli nuclear weapons?
Al Gore - Why?
In addition, Silvio Berlusconi was on the original long list of nominees on grounds that he helped broker a peace deal in Georgia.

What happens when Mr. Obama accepts the recommendation of Gen McChrystal in Afghanistan for an extra 40,000 troops? The aura of this peace ‘prize’ will be a constant presence in every action he takes on the world stage.

Joe the plumber your letter is full of holes. All those ‘scary’ statements because a man wants to provide free health care for the less well off? Britain has a free National Health Service that despite the usual criticisms continues to cope admirably with an overpopulated island. Britain is arguably the closest thing to America in Europe and the NHS has done no harm to the ‘golden’ goose. Even Mrs. Thatcher did not touch it after (rightly) privatizing everything else. Besides, the golden goose has left a hell of a mess behind!

You could have perhaps suggested which one of the other nominees should have got it. I would have shared it between Greg Mortenson the ex-mountaineer who has been building dozens of schools and educating girls in Taliban country – private aid, no government corruption, and a Dr Mukwenge who has been treating victims of rape in the Congo. He gave up a comfortable life in France to set up a clinic in the most horrible country on earth. This award should not be for politicians and celebrities, but for the unsung heroes on the ground.

Yang - rantingbrit

|2009-10-13 04:20:13

I couldn't agree with you more.

Politician, celebrities and self-claimed religious/spiritual leader who agitates democratic/cultural assimilation/religious persecution issues in a PEACE-ALREADY country should feel shame in front of those social workers who walk among the starvings of his people, the villagers of his people but still believe in superstition.

After all, more ordinary a social worker is, more honorable he is.

JoeThePlumber - Obama doesn't deserve it!

|2009-10-13 12:28:55

denmark98, try spell checker - Hypocrite, not hypocrit. And the debt? - Obama is spending billions on bailouts.

Constantin - you are anti-american, as stated in your other posts.

Mig selv - crackpot? check again, the snopes link shows that this letter was correct, not a hoax

Dame starlight - Since when are UN studies true? get out of the padded cell once in a while!

rantingbrit - 'a man wants to provide free health care for the less well off?' - WHY? and NO, read the real news, not this phoney baloney CPH Post. The USA does not want to give 'free' to everyone.

I have to get back to work so I can pay taxes so people like damestarlys can get her free psychological help and happy pills.

damestjernelys - ....

|2009-10-13 13:22:20

"This award should not be for politicians and celebrities, but for the unsung heroes on the ground"

I couldn't agree more.

damestjernelys - ..

|2009-10-13 15:45:03

"I have to get back to work so I can pay taxes so people like damestarlys can get her free psychological help and happy pills."

"Happy pills" are a misnomer.

"Since when are UN studies true? get out of the padded cell once in a while! "

Beyond the UN, WHO, PIRLS/TIMSS/PISA reports (education among OPEC natons,) UBS also puts out reports which show much the same (theirs is regarding world's best paid cities,) CB Richard Ellis Group (theirs is for shopping,) The Mercer Quality of LIving Survey... there are many surveys and studies done without UN involvement that (unsurprisingly enough) don't rank the US as #1.. in some of them (okay, most of them,) the US doesn't even rank in the top 10. So much for the US having the 'best quality of life.'

wor - Hey Joe

|2009-10-14 12:00:09

I would have liked to "play" devils advocate with all the points in your post at the top, but I won't.

I'll try to do some before vs. after (i.e pre and post Obama, i.e bush vs Obama) comparisons

You don't appear to be critically minded to the point where you can see holes in your own arguments.

1) Bailouts: That stuff went wrong before Obama got in. I think I'm right that both Democrats and Republicans are for the bailouts, but they could not agree on the amount. Correct me if I'm wrong. So whoever won the last US election, you would still have bailouts.

2)After x years in power, we "know" that Bush lied, about Iraq, Afghanistan, and what else, and we "know" that Obama has to sort it out, being willing to sort it out must reflect positively in part on his character...although will is not enough

3)We "know" that Family Bush was getting Saudi Money...was this why Family Bin Laden was allowed to leave the US soon After September 11? Maybe Obama gets his money from the same source, but I hope not

4)What is culturally American? I'm not, so please explain, without trapping yourself...if you can

6) Bush "skipped" military service, and started two invasions that caused two wars that are still "on". Bush was told that by the Military that the needed more tropps before both invasions took place, but Bush did not care...Obama appears to be listening to the Military, and has know increased the number of US troops that "will" be in Afghanistan, at the request of the Military

7)???..try looking in the mirror

8)Not to pick on th Suadis unduely, but they have been known to fund Bin Laden, you know. THis brings me back to my point 3), above

11) The rich get richer by having the poorer work for them. The poor work for the rich, in the hope to make themselves richer. To sustain the "economic growth", it is important that the poorer can contribute to economic growth, but the poor can only do so if they are healthy. The question is how can it be done? European style healthcare is one option for the US, the other option is the Japanese style..Japan is the 2nd largest economy. If the US does not address the health issue, Japan may become the No. 1 economy or Europe, due to having a healthy wealth creating workforce. Point out the errors in my reasoning, Joe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_Japan

I skipped some points, but if you really wanted to see if your points are the "truth" try looking at the circumstances that created the situation..you may then find the root cause.

If you could give crtically minded points to support your point of view (I'm not sure what it is), then the rest of us may see your point of view and the facts that support your view CLEARLY, and then we may choose to call you "Honest Joe".

I'm not trying to take sides (yet) I'm just trying to understand the reasoning (if any) behind the "noise".

Although there are more worthy people, I think Obama should get the Nobel Peace Prize as he is the "fall guy" who has to sort out a big mess that affects the rest of us, - a mess he did not create :-)...but I'm sure reward enough for Obama would be to sort out this mess

Come back very welcomed

wor - Obama Humour

|2009-10-16 06:54:22

I just caught a little bit of Obama humour form his speech this morning(last night?) in San Francisco.

Obama said something on the lines of:-
"It was as if I was sworn in, and SUDDENLY there was a financial crisis"

Oh, I forgot to add "let me be clear" at the begining
(See link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSbl_uvtNSE)

Enjoy your day

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Obama an ‘unusual choice’ for Peace Prize

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