This is so sweet! Maybe this will push old Rushbo into cardiac arrest or something? Anything that pisses this many conservatives off so quickly is alright with me. I think they're actually more mad over this than they were over Clinton's BJ.
OBAMA WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
by WuzLovesDubs 68 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Satanus
W bush must be getting some reflux over this. He'' be guzzling his pepto whiskey mix.
S
-
Gopher
So Obama hasn't accomplished his broad goals yet, and this disqualifies him according to the "anything Obama does is wrong" bunch.
So let's examine some past winners and see if you can spot a pattern.
Desmond Tutu, 1984 -- for his work against apartheid. HEY WAIT -- Apartheid didn't end for 10 more years. Dude hadn't done anything yet. Maybe the Nobel committee should have waited until apartheid was completely dismantled, THEN considered Tutu. But that's not how the Nobels are awarded.
Lech Walesa, 1983 - founder of Solidarity, for his campaign for human rights. Hey wait -- the Communists in Poland stayed in power through the late 1980's. Dude hadn't really accomplished anything yet. They should have waited to see how his human rights campaign worked out, then considered walesa. But that's not how the Nobels are awarded.
Jimmy Carter 2002, for his efforts to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts like the Middle East situation. Hey wait, there's still trouble in the Middle East. Carter didn't bring a lasting peace. The should have waited until Carter's efforts really were proven to have paid off. But that's not how the Nobels are awarded.
Carl Von Ossietzky, 1935 - German journalist and pacificist, for raising awareness of the dangers of the Nazi regime. But wait, the Nazis were in power for 10 more years. The Nobel prize committee had no idea how this Nazi thing was going to work out, and whether Ossietzky's contributions were worth anything. They should have just waited. But that's not how the Nobels are awarded.
Woodrow Wilson, 1919 - president of the USA, founder of the League of Nations. But wait, the League of Nations didn't prevent another world war or bring lasting peace to mankind. The Nobel prize committee should have just waited. But that's not how the Nobels are awarded.
Does ANYONE see a pattern here? The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded for great efforts to sow seeds of peace. They don't wait for decades to see if it sprouts exactly as hoped. In some cases it does, in other cases (like Wilson's) it doesn't.
Obama has apparently impressed many nations of the world as one who has taken great efforts to lead the world towards better solutions for its conflicts, and this award says they want him to continue. Nothing more, nothing less.
-
BizzyBee
Welcome to the discussion, Gopher!
Personally, I am over my initial reaction to low-key this achievement. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize! WHOOO HOOO! Suck it, GOP!
-
SixofNine
Great observations Gopher. I think my Irish friend on another db described the "foreign view" well:
But before I sleep....my phone beeped early this morning, it was my crazy friend who stood with me in the ridiculous cold of DC back in January during the inauguration, the two of us having travelled from Ireland at the invitation of our equally crazy Indian pal.
So her text message said: "Bo's Dad has won the Nobel Peace prize". I was sleepy, so I read it again. I thought, "ha - good one!". But then I turned on the news and realised she wasn't joking.
So first I think, this is crazy - actually, this is embarrassing for the President.
I mean, he's only been in office since January, he hasn't even had the chance to achieve anything concrete.
Then I turn on Sky News (owned by the lovely Rupert Murdoch) and they're sneering, newsreaders and reporters rolling their eyes.
For a minute I set aside my hero-worshiping and try to think about it all in a semi-detached way.
Did he deserve it?
Well, yes.
I'll tell you why. Our whole God damn world has changed since he was elected.
Wait, don't be pissed with me. I know the Iraq 'war' isn't done, I know how angry most of you are about Afghanistan, I know how many of you have lost jobs, I know how the GLBT community are still waiting for basic civil rights, I know many of you are crippled by healthcare costs, so, trust me, I know how there is so, so, so much still to be done.
I'm just talking from a foreigner's point of view, how we sense this whole new mood in relations between the United States and the rest of the planet.
Yep, the Cairo speech blew my mind (even my beloved Robert Fisk was impressed) - damn it, even the President talking to Al Jazeera so early in his term was astounding enough.
There's just a brand new mood. We no longer have a swaggering gobshite of a President who treats the rest of the world like sub-human inferiors.
We have a fella who actually views the rest of us as equals and who concedes America, on occasion, has done wrong. This, of course, is interpreted by the right as him 'apologising' for America - the rest of the world sees it as him strengthening America, because it indicates that this occupant of the White House knows the difference between right and wrong.
Do happy clappy photo ops change the world?
Hell no!
But what they do suggest is that this President has manners (a quality never to be underestimated, as my less than mannerly Granny used to tell me) - and a personality that prompts him to form warm, human and mutually respectful relations with other world leaders. That's change we can believe in!
The bottom line: the rest of us don't fear America any more. Yes, Afghanistan, with the endless senseless deaths in an unwinnable 'war', remains a constant source of worry, but there is, for now, a trust that thoughtful, intelligent decisions will be made on that front - and, sorry, that might not mean an immediate withdrawal.
There's a grown-up in the White House, and while that hardly guarantees that peace will reign, it gives us all hope.
So, yeah, this foreigner - and I'm not alone - celebrates President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, not just for what he might yet achieve, but for the peace of mind he has already given us. The world just seems different now, and it feels like America is, after eight years, finally on the side of trying to do the right thing. It doesn't mean the right thing will always be done, but even trying is progress.
I couldn't ever say it better than....
Irish Times: "....although he may as yet have no treaties under his designer belt and most of the challenges he faces are still very much work in progress, Mr Obama’s achievements are substantive, and very real. American foreign policy has been set on a new course, multilateral diplomacy on issues like armaments has been given a new lease of life and the nature and language of international dialogue has been transformed. Like Al Gore’s, whose Nobel prize for campaigning on climate change preceded his by two years, Mr Obama’s award is about his creation of political possibilities and space, and the real power of ideas and personal example. The power, as Mr Obama himself would say, of hope."
Guardian (UK): "Obama's success so far has been to defuse a good deal of international tension without giving much away. He has simply plucked the low-hanging diplomatic fruit that had dangled for so long above the Bush administration.....This Nobel peace prize is a down-payment on work yet to be done. It is an act of faith, based on the fact that Obama is making the right noises and seems to know what he is doing; and on the fact that, compared to his predecessor, he already looks like a master-craftsman."
Independent (UK): "His nomination for the prize may have been submitted less than two weeks after he took office in February. But in the time between then and the announcement yesterday Barack Obama has wrought a sea change in the international political climate. Not being George Bush was a good start. For Bush represented an arrogant, belligerent, unilateralist style of American foreign policy which served the world ill. Obama arrived with a heart for peace and an openness of mind to other nations which was in itself a huge transformation. He may see no alternative to fighting the war against al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan but everywhere else he has reasserted the importance of the United Nations and of multilateral diplomacy. He replaced military threats with dialogue with Iran and North Korea. He has begun talks with Russia over nuclear disarmament. He has prioritised peace in the Middle East. He has reached out a hand of friendship to the Muslim world. He has thrown Washington's recalcitrant attitude to global warming into reverse. All change begins with a change of mind by one individual and Obama has been that person."
Night! -
C. T. Russell
He deserves the Nobel Peace prize for just getting elected. The world owes the US for avoiding WWIII.
-
Gopher
Please CT, did you need to post that picture? Now I'll be thinking of "gosh-golly-wink-wink-he palls around with terrorists" and won't be able to get to sleep.
-
-
watson
She is hot!
-
beksbks
Watson!!!