Clues on why Obama won Nobel peace prize.

The GOP and media have been stating that President Obama won the Nobel in only being in 12 days in office before the deadline for the selection.

Here is how the Nobel Laureates are selected. From the Nobel prize website:

Below is a brief description of the process involved in selecting the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

September – Invitation letters are sent out. The Nobel Committee sends out invitation letters to individuals qualified to nominate – members of national assemblies, governments, and international courts of law; university chancellors, professors of social science, history, philosophy, law and theology; leaders of peace research institutes and institutes of foreign affairs; previous Nobel Peace Prize Laureates; board members of organizations that have received the Nobel Peace Prize; present and past members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; and former advisers of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

February – Deadline for submission. The Committee bases its assessment on nominations that must be postmarked no later than 1 February each year. Nominations postmarked and received after this date are included in the following year's discussions. In recent years, the Committee has received close to 200 different nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The number of nominating letters is much higher, as many are for the same candidates.

February-March – Short list. The Committee assesses the candidates' work and prepares a short list.

March-August – Adviser review. The short list is reviewed by permanent advisers and advisers specially recruited for their knowledge of specific candidates. The advisers do not directly evaluate nominations nor give explicit recommendations.

October – Nobel Laureates are chosen. At the beginning of October, the Nobel Committee chooses the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates through a majority vote. The decision is final and without appeal. The names of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are then announced.

December – Nobel Laureates receive their prize. The Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony takes place on 10 December in Oslo, Norway, where the Nobel Laureates receive their Nobel Prize, which consists of a Nobel Medal and Diploma, and a document confirming the prize amount.

Now it is true that Obama was in office as the 44th President before the deadline, but the GOP and media were asleep at the wheel of what Obama was doing prior to being sworn in as the 44th President. Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his Presidential win on November 4, 2008. Remember Change.gov? Then President-elect Obama was busy speaking with world leaders prior to his swearing in as the 44th President. Here are some examples:

President-elect Obama to meet with President Calderón
President-elect Barack Obama will meet with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón on Monday, January 12.

President-elect Barack Obama returns phone calls to more world leaders

President-elect Barack Obama recently returned phone calls to four world leaders and expressed his appreciation for congratulations on his election.

On Monday, November 24th, he spoke with Indonesian President Yudhoyono.

On Saturday, November 22nd, he spoke with Afghanistan President Karzai.

On Thursday, November 20th, he spoke with:

· European Commission President Barroso

· Haitian President Préval

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

President-elect Obama calls foreign leaders today

President-elect Barack Obama today returned phone calls to five world leaders and expressed his appreciation for their congratulations on his election. President-elect Obama spoke with:

· Colombian President Uribe

· Nigerian President Yar’Adua

· Senegalese President Wade

· South African President Motlanthe

· United Nations Secretary General Ban

Tuesday, November 18, 2008
President-elect Obama calls foreign leaders today

President-elect Barack Obama today returned phone calls to five world leaders and expressed his appreciation for their congratulations on his election.

· President Fernández de Kirchner of Argentina

· President Bachelet of Chile

· Taoiseach Cowen of Ireland

· President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan

· President Abbas of the Palestinian Authority

Monday, November 17, 2008
President-elect Obama calls foreign leaders today
President-elect Barack Obama today returned phone calls to three world leaders and expressed his appreciation for their congratulations on his election.

· President Saakashvili of Georgia;

· President Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines; and

· President Gul of Turkey

Saturday, November 15, 2008
Albright and Leach statement on G-20 delegations meetings
Statement of Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Former Congressman Jim Leach on meetings with G-20 delegations

"Throughout the last few days, we held constructive meetings on behalf of President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden with delegations to the G-20 summit from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Commission, France (via phone call), Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and with the Secretary General of the United Nations.

"The President-elect believes that the G-20 summit of leaders from the world's largest economies is an important opportunity to seek a coordinated response to the global financial crisis. There is one President at a time, so the President-elect asked us to represent him in receiving the views of these important partners. We also conveyed President-elect Obama's determination to continuing to work together on these challenges after he takes office in January.

"We will brief the President-elect and Vice President-elect at the conclusion of our meetings."

As you can see, the committee for the Nobel prize, in reality, had almost a year to watch Barack Obama. Why I say a year? On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidancy for President. The committee watched Obama when he was the Illinois Senator who was running for President, his speeches during the Presidential race and his trip to Berlin, when he was President-elect, and when he took his oath in office as the 44th President.

On a side note: Obama wasn't the only world leader nominated for the Nobel. French President Sarkozy was nominated. Click here. No one has questioned why the French President was nominated. This will be considered to be shock among people on why an U.S. President that has been in office for only nine months receive a Nobel peace prize. Are we supposed to measure leadership in term of longivity or short-term? As Obama said that he doesn't feel that his win should be in the company of the other nominees. Some people can say that he is right. And others can say that he is wrong. But, as Obama said that he accepted the award as "a call for action." We as a society have gotten cynical. Anyone can win a trophy, but it takes a team to win a championship. We have become a "me me" society where need to be fed, but we forgot to lose the bib and put on an apron to serve others. Leadership is earned and not given. And President has to earn leadership everyday as the commander-in-chief of the U.S. and a public servant and not just from his Nobel win.