Nobel committee defends decision: Obama’s, er, done some stuff
posted at 9:45 pm on October 13, 2009 by Allahpundit
True enough. He did, after all, downgrade missile defense in eastern Europe in order to build a peace consensus with Russia on Iranian nukes.
How’s that working out?
“We simply disagree that he has done nothing,” committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. “He got the prize for what he has done.”
Jagland singled out Obama’s efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.
“All these things have contributed to—I wouldn’t say a safer world—but a world with less tension,” Jagland said by phone from the French city of Strasbourg, where he was attending meetings in his other role as secretary-general of the Council of Europe.
That’s as candid a statement as you’re ever likely to see from an international diplomat. In fact, it reminds me of ElBaradei (a Nobel laureate himself) and his approach to Iran: Peace isn’t measured by actual security gains but merely by how well “tensions” have been papered over. No wonder The One got the award. Who’s better at getting up on stage and assuring the world that we’re all on the same team, even though we’re very much not? As Bret Stephens and Rich Lowry said, in hindsight he was the perfect pick. They might as well give him next year’s award now too. Exit quotation from Jeffrey Lord, daring to dream big:
It’s time to end the monopoly of the Nobel Peace Prize, the prize that is in fact historically and relentlessly dedicated in the modern era to rewarding the fatuous leftist ideas and false values of leftist global diplomacy. A philosophy that not only did not bring peace to the world — but never will. Not when tried by Woodrow Wilson, Austen Chamberlain, Frank Kellogg, Aristide Briand, Nicholas Murray Butler and Arthur Henderson and others from 1919 to 1939. Or Jimmy Carter in 2002, Al Gore in 2007, and now Barack Obama in 2009.
It’s time to award real prestige to those who achieve real peace.
It’s time for the Reagan Prize.
Update: A fair point in The One’s defense from the comments. The beer summit was epic.
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…….and Russia told the nobel won to bend over today….here comes change.
HornetSting on October 13, 2009 at 9:47 PM
He should get an award from the American Lung Association…I think he’s mentioned that he’d like to stop smoking at some point.
Asher on October 13, 2009 at 9:48 PM
Ogabe accepted the Nobel on behalf of tension-reducers everywhere who have joined him in his quest to reduce the tension of a tensioned world.
Bishop on October 13, 2009 at 9:48 PM
…so constructing technology to stop missiles from killing people…is warlike.
But tearing down that technology so that those missiles hit their target and kill millions…is peaceful.
I’m getting really sick of putting this gun in my mouth.
MadisonConservative on October 13, 2009 at 9:50 PM
Dude the beer summit was epic. You guys know Obama deserves the Nobel. Just admit it.
jhffmn on October 13, 2009 at 9:51 PM
I believe China should freely give up Tibet.
There, now I submit myself for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
ThePrez on October 13, 2009 at 9:52 PM
mm mm mm
Barack Insane Obama
For 10 days full of lies
He wins a Nobel Prize
mm mm mm
Daggett on October 13, 2009 at 9:52 PM
Well, so have I.
Why, just this morning, I tied my shoes by myself. And found my way to the ladies’ room – three times!!! That ought to count for something, right?
Now, where’s my Nobel Prize?
uncivilized on October 13, 2009 at 9:52 PM
You got that friggin right idiot
CWforFreedom on October 13, 2009 at 9:53 PM
Ask the eastern European nations or the skittish Arab nations if they feel less tension knowing that the missile shield is gone and that Iran won’t be seriously confronted over their nukes.
Bishop on October 13, 2009 at 9:54 PM
The only people feeling less tense are Iran and North Korea.
North Korea feels so damn relaxed that they just shot some more missile the other day.
Wait till Iran detonates it’s nuke. Then we will all be relaxing.
What the hell are we listening to a guy named Thorbjoern for anyway…?
Go make some wood shoes buddy.
NeoKong on October 13, 2009 at 9:55 PM
We declare that we just know that the Dingbat Messiah can walk on water. Isn’t that enough?
Really Right on October 13, 2009 at 9:56 PM
Can you say short-sighted
A little “peace” today for what? Kind of like being penny-wise and pound -foolish.
Paybacks gonna suck
CWforFreedom on October 13, 2009 at 9:56 PM
Exit Question:
For throwing out the first pitch at the All-Star game, does the big guy get the AL or the NL Cy Young award?
It’s a toughie.
billy on October 13, 2009 at 9:58 PM
Go ahead and celebrate your stupid decision, but remember this Euro-twits ….. The weak-kneed America you praise now, and it’s current yellow-bellied president, will not be there to come to your aid with millions of American young men when the Big Red Bear comes stomping across your homeland.
Eat that.
fogw on October 13, 2009 at 9:59 PM
Hey,, you gotta check out this video!! Awesome!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHbC7KliwQA&feature=player_embedded
JellyToast on October 13, 2009 at 9:59 PM
Tension reducing is trying to hide the problem ‘hoping’ that the problem will go away (‘change’). Like Britain and France found out in the 30′s, it never does go away but morfs into a bigger problem.
docdave on October 13, 2009 at 10:00 PM
Keep him out of my National League, the AL can have him.
beachgirlusa on October 13, 2009 at 10:00 PM
If Barack Obama had even the slightest mote of decency or integrity, or the smallest instinct toward the greatness that his office deserves, he would firmly reject the Nobel Peace prize without delay.
Sadly, he is quite simply too small a man for such things.
Lew on October 13, 2009 at 10:01 PM
I just got an email saying he won the Heisman Trophy after watching a college football game.
If that’s true, will he return Alaska to Russia and be peacefully done with HER?
ericdijon on October 13, 2009 at 10:01 PM
LMAO
beachgirlusa on October 13, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Aren’t U.S. Government officials precluded from accepting awards and honors and funds from foreign governments?
Dhuka on October 13, 2009 at 10:03 PM
Translation: They know he is anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. That is why these modern day Nazis who sympathize with Muslims, who want to wipe out Israel and all Jews, gave him the award.
Gabe on October 13, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Well, he does read from a Teleprompter very well. Better than any world leader ever.
Obama though is more a winner of Publisher’s Clearinghouse than the nobel prize. If the nobel prize stood for anything anymore other than state socialism and surrender to all enemies of freedom foreign and domestic.
wildcat84 on October 13, 2009 at 10:06 PM
Barack Schmuckatelli Obama. Mmm. Mmm. Mmmm.
Give back the ‘prize’. You don’t deserve anything. Not adulation, not adoration, not emulation. You deserve the scorn of the American populace because you are nothing but a serpent. A liar who has deceived a Nation.
You picked the wrong Nation to pick on, Schmuckatelli. You’re just as stupid as we think you are. You’ll lose in the end but we have patience for 2010.
Key West Reader on October 13, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Yeah, it’s not like Bush’s endless “Islam means Peace” spiels were worth anything to the ping communists in Norway.
Or is this a tacit acknowledgement that obama is a secret muslim!!!!?
Only Colbert knows.
BTW, how much less “tense” is the “Muslim world” when a sunni/shia nuclear arms race is about to break out in the ME?
Aquateen Hungerforce on October 13, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Somedays, I pause, and I think of the Jesus-like hero worship this man-child has.
And then, I realize, his fall is going to be HARD.
I wonder: what will happen here? What will happen to the media? To the left? To “society”?
‘Cause when he falls, it’s not going to be pretty.
(I hope it’s to Palin, btw; she makes him squirm like no other)
battleoflepanto1571 on October 13, 2009 at 10:07 PM
Has President Obama accomplished something on the world stage to deserve this award? Of course he has, he’s won the Nobel Prize.
(This is the same logic that helped get him elected)
29Victor on October 13, 2009 at 10:07 PM
nonsense! a general arms race between the saudis+gulf states (with egyptian help) and iran+syria is a “distraction”
didn’t you see his speech in cairo????
battleoflepanto1571 on October 13, 2009 at 10:08 PM
Dhuka-
From the Wash. Examiner
Also, see:
http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_9_8s6.html
CWforFreedom on October 13, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Yes, he had Barackopolis designed for the display of his uh. uh.
/at a loss for what the Barackopolis greek styrofoam colums were all about. What “event” was that, again? I forgot.
Key West Reader on October 13, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Jagland is known in Norway to be a complete idiot. Probably one of the most ridiculed politicians we have ever had.
I am ashamed to be from the same country as this moron.
Norwegian on October 13, 2009 at 10:09 PM
The NPC isn’t a government, though I don’t think the official rule is all that clear.
Ogabe got a beautiful desk from the British PM and in return he gave a plastic helicopter and some DVD’s.
Bishop on October 13, 2009 at 10:09 PM
Ha.
Pity me I’m a White Sox fan.
Sure we won the World Series a few years back,
but at what price…?
billy on October 13, 2009 at 10:10 PM
That’s all fine and dandy, but what did he do before he was nominated?
Ronnie on October 13, 2009 at 10:10 PM
I bet he wins a Pulitzer for attempting to expose media bias at FNC.
Erich66 on October 13, 2009 at 10:10 PM
Just the fact that he won is enough to tell me that he deserves it. Sometimes the winning is in the doing. Or is it the doing is in the winning?
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:10 PM
What he really deserves is an Oscar.
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:11 PM
Oh, great. Another institution the Left can corrupt, like the Ford Foundation.
Socratease on October 13, 2009 at 10:11 PM
Is there a prize for most stylish mom jeans?
txag92 on October 13, 2009 at 10:12 PM
As I said in the headline thread, I agree with their OBama assessment that the world is not a safer place now. As for reduceing tension, a fart can do that.
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:13 PM
he filled up a lady’s gas tank
…right?
blatantblue on October 13, 2009 at 10:13 PM
No kidding.
You just know that in 2050 it’ll go to Chelsea Clinton.
billy on October 13, 2009 at 10:13 PM
Islam isn’t a religion of peace. It’s a cult of war.
Just like nazi Germany, it’s made up of overt stormtroopers (the terrorists) and covert collaborators (the “moderate” muslims).
Destroying islam (note that I refuse to capitalize it except at the beginning of a sentence) is the cause of our day, it needs to happen to preserve freedom just as much as fascism, nazism, and communism had to be destroyed.
So far, not only is this generation not up to the task, it’s not even up to acknowledging the problem much less fighting it.
In my opinion, islam needs to be eradicated as an institutionally seditious and traitorous force within every Western nation.
I agree with Geert Wilders. It needs to be banned.
wildcat84 on October 13, 2009 at 10:14 PM
I nominate him to be president of the EU. I’m sure he’ll accept because Em’Chelle can be queen of Europe.
/gag.
Anything to get this clown out of town is fine with me.
Key West Reader on October 13, 2009 at 10:14 PM
You. Are. Bad.
Key West Reader on October 13, 2009 at 10:15 PM
Yes, there is now. It is called the Nobel Peace Prize.
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:15 PM
He’s allowed the mask to finally fall from the face of the media.
SouthernGent on October 13, 2009 at 10:15 PM
I find the new defenses by the Nobel committee to be pretty pathetic. They wouldn’t win a Nobel in “Award Justifications”, that’s for sure. Here’s how they explained the decision on the day they announced it:
They thought him totally incompetent from the start and rushed to give him the affirmative action award before his incompetence and idiocy rendered even them, fully prostrated before Him, unable to award it. They dared not even risk it for a year!
Where did all of these really stupid people come from, all of a sudden? I’ve never seen such obvious idiocy at such high levels. There was silliness, before, but this is a total psychotic break. I mean, that’s why everyone, even White House staff, gasped. Is there lead in the water in a lot of these capitals? WTF?
progressoverpeace on October 13, 2009 at 10:16 PM
He appeared on 5 talk shows in just one Sunday
He should get a daytime emmy award
macncheez on October 13, 2009 at 10:16 PM
You think too highly of yourself.
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:17 PM
And on a more serious note folks, if you consider what the Nobel Peace Prize really is, and who it is from and what other anti-western, anti-American recipients have been over say the past 25 years, I think Obama really does deserve it. He is at least as Anti-American as Arafat, and more leftist than Carter. So if you quit trying to make the prize mean what you wish it meant, Obama is a good fit.
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:17 PM
The new Wikipedia definition of the 2009 US Congress is outlined, above.
Key West Reader on October 13, 2009 at 10:17 PM
SILLY RABBIT…..
He won for his support of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act in the Illinois Senate.
Oh, wait he was the only State Senator to vote against that.
MMM, what could it have been for then?
PappyD61 on October 13, 2009 at 10:17 PM
tryin
blatantblue on October 13, 2009 at 10:18 PM
err err *facepalm* err err.
alohapundit on October 13, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Thank you, and that may well be so. At least I like being me, so I don’t have to be you.
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:19 PM
Odumbass Mom Jeans
txag92 on October 13, 2009 at 10:20 PM
He is the first recipient to win for not being Boooosh.
kingsjester on October 13, 2009 at 10:20 PM
We know what that means
Next Nobel PP goes to Taco Bell
macncheez on October 13, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Man I hate being a southerner. I’m so inarticulate sometimes.
err
*stop that self*
/s
alohapundit on October 13, 2009 at 10:21 PM
Does anyone have the email address where I can write Jagland, and diplomatically convey to him that he is a dangerous, delusional moron?
ParisParamus on October 13, 2009 at 10:21 PM
“A world with less tension”? What world does he live in? He must be feeling pretty good about those Noko missile tests, Iran’s nukes and terrorist operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan
A world with less tension? Cut me a freakin break. This is the time the entire world needs a cowboy in the WH not some vacuous metrosexual Chauncey Gardiner.
obladioblada on October 13, 2009 at 10:22 PM
There’s simply no comparison here. Obama has produced far more than you can with three trips to the restroom.
nico on October 13, 2009 at 10:23 PM
Great. A less safe world that’s been doped out on hopenchange.
Just what we need.
Loxodonta on October 13, 2009 at 10:24 PM
Dude, this is going to be a really sad joke when WWIII breaks out.
bitsy on October 13, 2009 at 10:24 PM
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:27 PM
I had a massage last week and I am now much less tense.
Hey Norway, how about a Nobel peace prize for Greta, the masseuse?
LASue on October 13, 2009 at 10:29 PM
Or that little dog!
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:29 PM
The Nobel Sedative Prize.
Loxodonta on October 13, 2009 at 10:29 PM
WW3 broke out Sept. 11, 2001
beachgirlusa on October 13, 2009 at 10:29 PM
We’re all either going to be killed by terrorists or pushed around by international thugs.
But Barry’s voice is just so calming!
Loxodonta on October 13, 2009 at 10:31 PM
“Just how did this happen?”
Seven Percent Solution on October 13, 2009 at 10:31 PM
superfluous? Or was that a trick question?
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:32 PM
No, I had my flu shot.
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:33 PM
Greta?
bloggless on October 13, 2009 at 10:34 PM
OK, I’ll give you the point. That was actually pretty good.
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 10:34 PM
I wonder if that is what he says to Michelle? Baby, I want to reduce some tension…give me a prize!
JAM on October 13, 2009 at 10:40 PM
After five days, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee’s decision still stinks like lutefisk!
yoda on October 13, 2009 at 10:40 PM
I’d like to know that too? Am I wrong in my understanding that the nominations had to be submitted by February 1, 2009?
galvestonian on October 13, 2009 at 10:51 PM
(This is not off-topic, AP and Ed. Stay with me.)
Just got back from the University of Chicago, where Ambassador John Bolton gave a rousing review of our current foreign policy hot points with his signature crystal clarity. Mandel Hall was nearly full, with a 50-50 mix of ignorant liberal students and local lefties balanced by conservative admirers of The Stache with a strongly Jewish flavor (the speech was sponsored by Young Republicans and Chicago Friends of Israel), plus a handful of Chicago politicians looking for any high-profile event to make an appearance at (try to imagine a worse event for a black Chicago liberal running for county office than this…I defy you).
The Ambassador touched on
- Afghanistan, Pockeestahn, and McChrystal (scorching Our Idiot President for announcing his policy in March, sitting on it for 6 months, and then suggesting he doesn’t have a policy anymore, all while his general on the ground twists in the wind),
- Iran at great length (scorching both Our Idiot President and his predecessor, and openly admitting that he failed to win the Iran debate over a 5-year period in the Bush White House and clearly acknowledging that Bush’s policy differed from Obama’s in no discernable way),
- Russia (clearly stating that Our Idiot President was pansed by Medvedev and Putin and got nothing, but admitting that it probably isn’t considered a loss to the imbeciles in the White House, since they hate missile defense in the first place and think that they got some sort of secret commitment on sanctions against Iran from Russia — then noted that Russian foreign minister Lavrov has already let the cat out of the bag), and of course
- Israel and the Palestinian people (which a number of attendees were surely there to hear about, and about which he proposes his “Three State Solution”).
He was as advertised — confident, forceful, direct, remarkably knowledgeable and well-educated, and crystal clear in his logic and the articulation of his ideas.
The stache was impeccably groomed and a force of its own.
The Q and A was anti-climactic in that the majority of questions were from brainless, effeminate little U of C liberals who were apparently directed by their professors to go, listen, and ask a question. The questions were impossibly ignorant, and the poor little poseurs were calmly eviscerated by the Ambassador and laughed at by the remaining audience.
A wonderful night.
Jaibones on October 13, 2009 at 10:58 PM
The idea that peace is not created or protected by pacifists will never sink in with some people.
Scrappy on October 13, 2009 at 11:06 PM
That is because it is hard to sink anything in shallowness. I wish the pacifists would sometime try to convince some of our foes to not fight instead of just us. I’d personally buy plane fare for some of them to go to Iran or North Korea and try to talk their pacifism crap there.
MikeA on October 13, 2009 at 11:16 PM
Almost forgot the reason why that lengthy comment/review was not off-topic:
Bolton’s explanation for the Nobel award is Obama’s speech in Egypt, in which O’Bozo distinguishes himself as our first “Post American President”. Asked by a reporter if he believes in American exceptionalism, Obama declares:
Which is to say “No”. Bolton surmises that if he had the time, O’Bozo would have rattled off all 190-something UN member countries for their own exceptionalism. Therefore, we are only exceptional in our own eyes, and not in fact.
Bolton suggests that Obama thinks he is President of the World.
Jaibones on October 13, 2009 at 11:18 PM
Obama’s done “some stuff” reminds me of the Saturn “pundit” commercial where the guy whines about people who say American car companies can’t build cars that Americans want, then goes on to say, “Saturn builds cars that Americans want to buy”. Then a few short months later Saturn announces that they will no longer build cars period!
Sure Obama’s done some stuff. Err, what was it again?
glennbo on October 13, 2009 at 11:20 PM
Translation: “The world would be a better and less tense place if we didn’t insist on standing up against oppression and slavery. Sure, we’re not safe, but at least we’re not causing tension.”
Vic on October 14, 2009 at 12:00 AM
CWforFreedom
Thanks for the info!
Dhuka on October 14, 2009 at 12:00 AM
True peace is always won, never negotiated.
Mojave Mark on October 14, 2009 at 12:12 AM
It was Sgt. Crowley who proposed the beer summit. Crowley was the actor, and Gates and Obama the reactors. Therefore, the Prize should go to Sgt. James Crowley for reducing the racial tensions raised by Obama and Gates:
unclesmrgol on October 14, 2009 at 12:21 AM
More proof that the award should have gone to Sgt. Crowley:
I think the +1 on action by the President is now back down to zero. The only reason Obama called Crowley was because of the racism he had been accused of harboring in his off-the-cuff castigation of Sgt. Crowley. Sgt. Crowley suggested the way out of the fine mess Obama had gotten himself into.
unclesmrgol on October 14, 2009 at 12:31 AM
In his peaceful and articulate way THE ONE cured erectile dysfunction for the crew at MSNBC?
Yoop on October 14, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Thanks for the link! That vid was really well done. I’m passing it around to all my rockin’ lib friends–they’ll love the messenger, but hate the message.
Gang-of-One on October 14, 2009 at 12:51 AM
He should get a Nobel prize for medicine
And the Vatican should acknowledge his miracle of curing the erectile dysfunction of Maddow..and put him on a fast-track to sainthood
macncheez on October 14, 2009 at 12:55 AM
Bet it was. Mr. Bolton’s knowledge is always something to pay attention to.
Gang-of-One on October 14, 2009 at 1:12 AM
Let’s dig up dead Ed,fire up the van and go out on the Nobel Peace Prize Patrol… You may have already won!
kringeesmom on October 14, 2009 at 1:59 AM
After Hussein received the Prize, its mean is of no value anymore. Simply put, The Prize is only worth the value of the metal.
Hey Jimmy, How much can you get for your old scrap gold?
BigMike252 on October 14, 2009 at 2:24 AM
I have read/heard many libs say something to the effect that “All Americans should be proud that Obama won the Nobel Prize…”
Wow! So Obama is to be admired just as much as well-known terrorist Yassir Arafat or noted anti-Jew Jimmy Carter???
Even the world-famous-Chicken-Little Al Gore has one…
What a joke.
shorebird on October 14, 2009 at 3:49 AM
Obama brought us
The momentous Beer Summit…
Cut the guy a break!
Haiku Guy on October 14, 2009 at 5:59 AM
.
I getting sick and tired of all this blasphemy about Our Savior being undeserving of a Nobel Peace Prize. Look at all his accomplishments:
Astronomy: Took up space in school.
Academics: Got 100% on urine test.
International relations: World renowned international philanthropist and peace advocate Muammar Al-Qaddafi was moved to say “Obama, my son….”.No other American has been so honored.
Shares many of the same attributes as other, past, great world leaders such as Lincoln, Mozart, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Churchill, Gandhi, etc. Like these icons of civilization , Our Savior ingests oxygen and expels co2.
Oh, Lord Obama, forgive them in their criticism for they know not the grievous sin they have committed.
MaiDee on October 14, 2009 at 6:15 AM
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