« | Home | »

Politics

Obama wins Nobel

by Lee Leslie | 10, Add your Comment | Oct 9, 2009

Nobel-Peace-Prize-medalWhat a surprise to wake up to: Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. For “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,”  the Nobel Committee said. Which in Norwegian translates as, “he is not George W. Bush.”

“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,” Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. “In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations.” (from Salon)

Nominated for the prize just two weeks after becoming president and well before war broke out in town halls across America, Obama joins only two other sitting US Presidents as a winner, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002 after leaving office. Al Gore won the award in 20071.

The Olympic committee is said to be stunned. Likewise the Republican caucus. Fox News went silent for several seconds when the announcement was made. It is rumored that Hillary Clinton locked herself in a room and cursed privately.

Resources:


1 Technically, he was not president based on the Supreme Court ruling.

printer friendly


Note: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for the agreed-upon rules of civility. Comments do not reflect the views of LikeTheDew.com. Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click here to report a violation.

10 Responses to “Obama wins Nobel”

  1. Dallas says:
    October 9, 2009 at 9:48 am

    Perfect lead, bracketed with a perfect footnote.

    Reply
  2. Cathleen Hulbert Cathleen Hulbert says:
    October 9, 2009 at 11:01 am

    It is interesting (although not surprising) that many of the critics who are saying he hasn’t had time to accomplish much are the same folks who have been chiding him for not turning things around fast enough.

    Reply
  3. Lee Leslie Lee Leslie says:
    October 9, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    Cathleen:
    You got me pegged. He hasn’t had time to accomplish much and he hasn’t done much. If that statement makes me a critic, than I confess my guilt. I admire the man. I support the man. I deeply hope and advocate for his success. However, there are plenty of things he can with his executive authority that he has chosen, for whatever combination of political reasons, not to act on. The St. Petersburg Times’ site http://www.politifact.com/ is non-political and has a great list of campaign promises, action and inaction. Here are some of my complaints, and admittedly, many require a functioning congress: Guantanamo is still open. Warrantless wiretaps continue. He hasn’t reinvigorated antitrust enforcement. Almost nothing on reducing oil consumption. Nothing on environmental and labor standards in trade agreements. Nothing on tax havens. Nothing on ending no-bid contracts. Nothing on pension disclosures. Nothing on health insurance company payment transparency. Nothing on malpractice insurance. Nothing on imported prescription drugs. Nothing on Autism. Nothing on reinstating hiring of federal employees with disabilities. Nothing on fully funding the VA. Nothing on housing vouchers for homeless vets. Nothing on expanding Family Medical Leave Act for domestic violence. Nothing on Iraq refugees. Nothing on transparency standards for military contractors. Nothing on penalizing defense contractors who defraud the government. Nothing to change Homeland Security funding according to risk. Nothing to secure the safety of chemical plants. Nothing on port security. Nothing to prevent our banks from lending money to repressive regimes. Nothing to reinstate a special envoy for the Americas. Nothing to ban the sale of children’s toys that contain lead. Nothing on creating centralized ethics and lobbying information. Nothing to expose special interest tax breaks. Nothing to reform no child left behind. Nothing to regulate livestock pollution. Nothing for national parks or wetlands. Nothing on immigration. Nothing on same-sex equality. Nothing on voter intimidation. Nothing on minimum sentencing reform. Nothing on minimum wage increase. Nothing on restoring the superfund/polluter pay cleanup. Nothing on law enforcement limits to trace guns. Nothing on payday loan interest caps. Nothing global climate change research. Nothing on New Orleans housing. Nothing on securing nuclear weapons materials. Nothing on digital rights to privacy. Nothing on reforming and updating copyright and patent law. Nothing on attracting doctors to rural areas. Nothing on age discrimination. Nothing on reducing earmarks. Nothing on reducing energy speculators. Nothing on bio-fuel production. Nothing to promote cellulosic ethanol. Nothing to restore collective bargaining rights for federal employees. Nothing on repealing don’t ask don’t tell. Nothing on allowing bankruptcy judges to modify home mortgages. Nothing on an oil windfall tax. Almost nothing on lobbyists and former government revolving doors rules. We are still entrenched in Iraq and the generals want more troops in Afghanistan. Yeah, he’s kept a few promises and done some good, but he said he was going to do these things and I believed him.

    Reply
  4. Terri Evans Terri Evans says:
    October 9, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    A statement from the DNC via Huffington Post: “The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists — the Taliban and Hamas this morning — in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” wrote DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize — an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride — unless of course you are the Republican Party. The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It’s no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore – it’s an embarrassing label to claim.”

    Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/09/obamas-nobel-prize-inspir_n_315167.html

    Reply
  5. Brenden Brenden says:
    October 9, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    What a f***ing joke. Only it would have been funnier if they gave him the Economics prize. Next year he’s lock!

    Reply
  6. Cliff Green Cliff Green says:
    October 9, 2009 at 11:55 pm

    I’m sorry, Brenden, I really am. But your little corner of the world, pretty much confined now to South Carolina, Georgia (?), Alabama, Mississippi, Wyoming and Alaska, is shrinking by the minute. Fight the good fight, my friend, but don’t be surprised to find yourself all alone.

    Reply
  7. C Smith says:
    October 10, 2009 at 1:06 am

    Oh Cliff Brenden is not in any corner by himself and the democrates that are pulling the race card , ignoring ideas of others, or if that doesn’t work sticking their thumbs in each ear waving their hands and yell we won so there, are going to be looking for a corner to hide. If the democrates keep up this lack of preformance and then get rewarded for work not yet accomplished republicans, independents, and blue dog democrates are going to be in the change line again. If the status-quo continues one year from this November congress is going to be full of rookies.
    Brenden I know you can handle your own battles but these comments are begining to wear thin. I know this is weak responce but then I’m not retired or laid off or fired from so called journalism whos job is supposed be to present facts and leave out personel positions.

    Reply
  8. C Smith says:
    October 10, 2009 at 3:11 am

    There is a subject that this might be the place to present. “LIKE THE DEW” is a project that is trying to get on it’s feet by attracting members and readers and contributors to a number that will attract advertisement. There is a good product here with diversity encouragement and the ability to comment immediately. The one sided sniping with no facts does not help this cause as I have read where others have given up bloging on Face book because of attacks from opposing ideas. Face book has the numbers to attract advertisers so one or two lost members does not bother their business. I have witnessed debates here that well present facts for different sides of a subject and I am sure there are other ideas if allowed to be presented. I am not in no way involved in this endeavor but I would like to see it succeed. All members and contributors need to introduce their friends and family to LIKE THE DEW and encourage participation. Who knows this might be where common ground might be found to solve some of our countries pressing problems.

    Reply
  9. Matthew Wright Matthew Wright says:
    October 10, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Well said C Smith. This is a great platform to discuss ideas and debate policies. I’m happy to be a part of it.

    Reply
  10. Cliff Green Cliff Green says:
    October 11, 2009 at 9:45 pm

    CSmith: I never said Brenden was in a corner by himself. If you will look at other responses on this site, you will see that Brenden and I are on the same side when it comes to criticizing former President George Bush outside the context of politics or public policy. Cheap shots are cheap shots, no matter who fires them. But you are right on one score, Brenden is perfectly capable of fighting his own battles. Matthew: This IS a great platform. Let’s keep it clean of public relations.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

What is CAPTCHA and why do I have to enter it to post a comment?

Quick answer: Look at the picture (below) that contains letters. Type those letters in the CAPTCHA Code box.

Longer explanation: Our comment system now requires a CAPTCHA test (an acronym for "Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart" for all comments (unless you have registered and are logged-in). CAPTCHA is an image of letters that is dynamically generated (click the speaker icon to hear it or the arrows to load another test that may be easier to read). The letters, because they're part of an image and not text (e.g. text that you could cut and paste), are difficult for a spambot or other computer program to read. Yet, a person has little trouble reading the letters in a captcha image and then typing them into the form. Using a captcha test on our website is a great way to ensure, for instance, that a person and not a spambot is filling out a web form (we used to get 100 or so spam comments every day which our volunteers had to wade through). Also, a captcha can make it difficult for a person to continuously resubmit form information and overwhelm our comment function. If you hate CAPTCHA, just register on LikeTheDew.com and login (registration is on the bottom left of our home page) and you won't be stopped by CAPTCHA.

You can add images to your comment by clicking here.

Related Posts

Lee Leslie
Lee Leslie
About the author Lee Leslie: I’m just a plateaued-out plain person with too much time on his hands fighting the never ending lingual battle with windmills for truth, justice and the American way or something like that. Here are some reader comments on my writing: “Enough with the cynicism. One doesn’t have to be Pollyanna to reject the sky is falling fatalism of Lee Leslie’s posts.” “You moron.” “Again, another example of your simple-minded, scare-mongering, label-baiting method of argumentation that supports the angry left’s position.” “Ah, Lee, you traffic in the most predictable, hackneyed leftist rhetoric that brought us to the current state of political leadership.” “You negative SOB! You destroyed all my hope, aspiration, desperation, even.” “Don’t you LIBERALS realize what this COMMIE is talking about is SOCIALISM?!?!?!” “Thank you for wonderful nasty artful toxic antidote to this stupidity in the name of individual rights.” “I trust you meant “bastard” in the truest father-less sense of the word.” “That’s the first time I ran out of breath just from reading!” “You helped me hold my head a little higher today.” “Makes me cry every time I read it.” “Thanks for the article. I needed something to make me laugh this mourning.” “If it weren’t so sad I would laugh.” “Amen, brother.”

Last 5 posts by Lee Leslie