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Obama's Nobel win: A tale of two Fridays
Sat Oct 10 12:44PM
"What?" That was the reaction of most people I know in Washington, possibly including President Barack Obama, when news broke early this morning that the US leader had stunningly scooped the Nobel peace prize. Normally, when the presidential phone rings at 6 am it's bad news -- some crisis breaking somewhere in the world.
But today, Robert Gibbs, Obama's press secretary, had the happy duty of informing Obama of his shock award, setting off a scramble in the White House to frame a response, and digest the implications of such an unexpected coup.
Gibbs politely declined to reveal Obama's exact reaction to the news -- leading to speculation a presidential curse word may have been involved.
Often, Nobel laureates are honored for years of deprivation, of selfless, lonely and dangerous resistance to totalitarian regimes.
Not Obama, who has been in the gilded cage of the White House for only nine months, and who has precious few achievements to show for his early forays onto the world stage.
The Nobel committee itself admitted the award was intended as a boost to Obama's ambitious agenda of diplomatic engagement and cutting nuclear weapons stocks around the world rather than an endorsement of a lifelong body of work.
For anyone in the mood to dismiss the Nobel award as hugely premature, it is easy to knock.
The US president has so far made few breakthroughs, despite taking ambitious aim at a nuclear free world, Middle East peace, a soft landing to the Iran and North Korea nuclear crises -- not to mention his soaring call for reconciliation with the Muslim world.
Today was a tale of two Fridays.
Seven days ago, cynics in the White House press corps, including me, had a field day, after Obama made an overnight trip to Copenhagen to plead Chicago's case for the 2016 Olympics -- only to see his hometown kicked out in the first round.
Obama aides tried to keep a lid on their glee this Friday -- but you can only image their delight at dealing with all the hacks that saw the Olympic knockback as a sign that Obama's vaunted global engagement policy is a bust.
That is not to say that the Nobel award is a win-win for Obama. A chorus of claims by critics that it is premature and not deserved will crank up already intense pressure on the US leader to get results from a clutch of foreign policy crises.
Conservatives, who need no encouragement to paint Obama as an empty "celebrity" who goes around the world apologizing for his country, also have more ammunition if the US leader falls short on the world stage.
And Obama, who is constantly fighting the perception that the huge expectations and aspirations generated by his historic 2008 election campaign will never translate into results, could probably have done without an award for what he might one day accomplish.
In this blog, journalists of global news wire AFP blog about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Steve Collinson is AFP White House correspondent.
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Don't like Obama. Bring back Bush.
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Or better still, Clinton - he was the best president the US has had in decades.
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I like him but it really is premature
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Absolutely no way Cameron is going to get anything like this, he's a total second rater, a pale shadow of Blair, in fact he's Blair 2, the awful follow on.
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YOU VE THE RIGHT TO SAY WHATEVER THATS THE WORLD HAVE BROUGHT US
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What has this man done to warrant a Nobel Peace Prize? Israel has not given up or agreed to reduce any of its nuclear weapons and what is more Obama has agreed not to raise the issue, merely agreeing to pretend he is unaware of their existance. Consequently, the entire volatile surrounding region remains one with the Damoclean nuclear sword threat unaddressed!
He has also been told in no uncertain terms that Israel will not halt buliding settlements on occupied land and that there will be no comprehensive peace deal for many years to come! No success in bringing about peace there then. He is still allowing the murder via air strikes of Afgans "suspected" of being resistance fighters and killing infants together with their mothers as "co-lateral damage" resulting from these attacks. The compliant puppet government of Afganistan is acknowledged on the international stage as being corrupt and the recent elections "manipulated".
Iraq remains under American occupation and again the compliant puppet government is dependant on American force to remain in power! Over the years the prestige of the Nobel Peace prize has been somewhat reduced, the man whose minions bombed supermarkets, train stations, nightclubs, attacked banks and retail chain warehouses killing unarmed civilians was awarded one. I refer to the murdering terrorist Nelson Mendela who was offered freedom many times over many years if he renounced violence!
Yitzak Rabin another of those who introduced terrorism into Palestine from which Israel arose and who supported the terrorist organisations, Irgun (led by Menachem Begin and responsibel for murdering 91 people by bombing the King David Hotel, Palestine on 22nd July 1946) , Stern (who assassinated Lord Moyne the British Minister Resident in the Middle East and Count Bernodette, the UN negotiator in Paris 1948) and Hagana also recieved a Nobel Peace Prize.
It is beginning to appear that a pre-requisite for candidacy for the peace prize is a terror background! That should make Obama uncomfortable.
No real prestige in the Prize anymore
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whats this guy actually achieved to date ....just hot wind with no clear results.
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Obama gets Noble Peace Prize??????????????????????????????????????
The celeb culture gone mad... so sycophantic it makes my skin crawl and I am not against Obama at all.
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It,s really a sad reflection of modern life
when a man whose only been in office such a short time
is awarded this prize
I, would have voted for him in the elections if I was american, but
this makes a mockery of such a valued prize
the lunatics have most definitely taken over the asylum
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For 'goodness' sake, literally, Give the man time...it will take a little time to undo what has have forced to materialise over the years, don't be so crittical. Rome wasn't built in a day.
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