I'm still in shock. What are your thoughts?
USA Today:
WASHINGTON — President Obama received congratulatory messages and some political barbs Friday after learning he'd won the Nobel Peace Prize. But many people said they were simply perplexed that a man who has been in office less than a year could have won one of the world's most prestigious prizes.
"I was stunned," said Aaron David Miller, former Mideast peace negotiator and author of the upcoming book, Can America Have Another Great President? "It really does undermine the notion of excellence and greatness."
Miller guessed that members of the prize committee were demonstrating "their view America is somehow back … after eight years of being lost."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., echoed that notion.
"It's a stunning announcement and it reflects well on America's ideals and the world's yearning for American leadership," he said. "Little is possible without leadership. No one can force other nations to follow, but President Obama is reintroducing America to the rest of the world, and people of goodwill everywhere do have hope about working together for progress on some of the world's most daunting and dangerous problems."
Obama said he was "both surprised and deeply humbled."
"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize, men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace," he said. "But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women and all Americans want to build, a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents."
The White House said he didn't even know he'd been nominated for the prize that's been won only by three previous U.S. presidents.
One of them, Democrat Jimmy Carter, won the prize in 2002, decades after he'd left office.
On Friday, Carter called the award to Obama a "bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment."
Former president George W. Bush had no comment on the news, said his spokesman, David Sherzer.
The Republican National Committee didn't hold back, however.
"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'
" RNC Chairman Michael Steele said.
5 comments:
I think Barack Obama has done a heck of a job keeping the economy he was handed together as best as he can. People did not panic and they sure could have. His rapidly graying hair attests to that.
People want to believe--in him, in the US, that we will make a better world. He's gone after universal health care-nuclear disarmament, his making a first step of removing weapons from Poland was joyously followed by the Russian President doing the same. He's reached out to the Arab world, and I'm glad he did. Coming on the heels of Chicago's loss of their Olympic bid, yeah, I am glad he went and after seeing the SNL Live skit which said he hasn't done anything since he's been elected, This is HUGE. I for one am glad he got Holbrooke to work with Pakistan and turn around conditions in the gorgeous Swat Valley! Those people were driven out by AlQaida, and stayed for weeks in Red Cross tents. Also HUGE! He hasn't closed Gitmo yet-but he has made impressive progress toward that end and I think he is dedicated to ending torture and closing the
shameless chapter of the Bush Administration. This will go a long way in shutting up the birthers and the tea party people.
"This will go a long way in shutting up the birthers and the tea party people."
It sure will. I just put up another posting that recognize that Martin Luther King Jr. at the young age of 35 received the same awatrd. People seem to forget that. Also, I posted what President Obama won the Nobel for: basically diplomacy. And I must say gain alot of respect from allies like Russia, Turkey, Venezuela and so on in a short period of time. The media have to remember that there has been 8 years of collateral damage internationally by Bush. Obama knows that there is a lot more work to be done.
By the way, the lawmakers are the holdouts for closing Gitmo not Obama. Obama made that executive order when he came in office but Reid and other lawmakers have opposed it.
I was listening to news radio this morning and they were taken calls (I live in the "Blue" town of the "Blue" county, and state) people were saying that the GOP will somehow turn this into a negative (that was the theme of most of the calls) and now later in the afternoon, I am seeing news that they are already going at it.
"8 years of collateral damage internationally by Bush."
That's an understatement, serious damage done by the Gerbil Administration.
Yes, Obama deserves it considering he is winning back the respect of so many ruined foreign relations, such an enormous amount of foreign relations damage to contend with.
So much damage control in the foreign relations department was left for him.
Other countries repsond when you deal with a rational intelligent President, like the one we have now, instead of the ....Cheney years.
You notice that we didn't know who was nominated for the award this year? When Al Gore won, we all knew the other nominees. On thing to add is that the media and the winguts never took in the fact of Obama's work on working with the international countries took place when he resigned as the Senator after he won the Presidency. No one paid attention to his work that he had been doing as President-elect on the Change.gov website. I remembered reading on the website that many of the leaders wanted to wait to speak with Obama until he was sworn in as President.
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