Nobel prize for Obama premature

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October 27, 2009

Clarissa Caruso, Reporter  

Filed under Opinions

On the morning of October 9, 2009, the world waited anxiously for the announcement of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner.  Who would it be…an unknown Mother Teresa figure, the leader of an organization that has helped develop an impoverished nation, a world leader that has mediated between international disputes?  Anyone of these speculations could have been correct in past years; but not this year.  Instead, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award someone for their intentions and rhetoric.  President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Why was  Obama awarded the Prize only eight months into his term? According to the Committee, Obama received it due to his “vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”  Interestingly, former president W. Bush also worked to reduce nuclear weapons, specifically with Russia in 2002; yet he did not receive a Nobel Prize. Bush Sr. was the president responsible for ending the Cold War and he also went unrecognized by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.  Another reason stated for Obama’s recognition was that “Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.” Apparently, all that matters now to win the Nobel Peace Prize is to have a vision, speak eloquently, and be popular; no need to achieve anything.

A recent poll by CNN found that 56 percent of Americans believe that Obama did not deserve the award.  This can be substantiated by the fact that the nomination period closed on February 1, just a few days after Obama’s inauguration.  How is it possible that someone in office for only nine days, and in the national spotlight for the first time during his campaign, deserved the Nobel Peace Prize?  The answer to this is simply to not be your unpopular predecessor.  While we should be proud that the leader of our nation won the Prize, we should also realize that he did not deserve it.  By awarding the prize to a person who has not yet achieved anything, except not being Bush, a mockery is made of the Nobel Peace Prize and all the extraordinary people who received the prize in the past.  Although our president’s intentions are good, he has not yet had the time to carry them out and has been prematurely awarded this prestigious Prize.

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