THE DAILY BLADE: The Nobel Peace Prize? Really?
President Barack Hussein Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions to world peace in the two weeks between January 21, 2009, when he was inaugurated into office, and the February 1, 2009 deadline for nominations. Which is to say, nothing. Zero. Nada. Zilch. And nine months into his only term in office, he’s not accomplished a single thing more.
With a nod to “Saturday Night Live” (video):
† Has he halted North Korea’s nuclear program? Uh, no.
† Has he gotten Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions? Nope.
† Has he stopped the genocide in Darfur? Uh-uh.
† Has he achieved peace between the Arabs and the Israelis? Not yet.
† Has he stopped human rights abuses in China. Nah.
And on top of it all, he killed a fly on TV – not very peaceful, as far as The Stiletto is concerned.
Even many who voted for Obama – are incredulous. “The award … had many puzzled Americans scratching their heads,” reports Reuters:
"It would be wonderful if I could think why he won," said Claire Sprague, 82, a retired English professor as she walked her dog in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. "They wanted to give him an honor I guess but I can't think what for."
Itya Silverio, 33, of Brooklyn, was also surprised. "My first opinion is that he got it because he's black," she said. "What did he do that was so great? He hasn't even finished office yet." …
When told of Obama's win Robert Schultz, 62, a retired civil servant and Vietnam veteran, asked: "For doing what?
"The guy hasn't solved any conflict anywhere so how can he win the peace prize? But if we don't reelect him the next go around we will all look like idiots because the world has anointed him," said Schultz, who lives in a suburb of Dallas.
Some said the choice could damage the Nobel committee's credibility and that of the award.
"It looks less like an objective award than it does a political endorsement," said William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta and author of a forthcoming book on Obama. …
In Chicago, retiree June Latrobe, 68, was also nonplused. "In all candor he hasn't done anything yet," he said.
Reuters also reports that “the bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president … who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo”:
Critics - some in parts of the Arab and Muslim world - called the committee decision premature. …
Issam al-Khazraji, a day laborer in Baghdad, said of Obama: "He doesn't deserve this prize. All these problems -- Iraq, Afghanistan -- have not been solved . . . man of 'change' hasn't changed anything yet."
Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing "joke". …
Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland rejected suggestions from journalists that Obama was getting the prize too early, saying it recognized what he had already done over the past year.
"We hope this can contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do," he told a news conference.
The committee said it attached "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons", saying he had "created a new climate in international politics".
It is said that talk is cheap but Obama, who is thus far all talk, no action will be getting $1.4 million from the Nobel Committee on December 10th.
The Nobel Committee clearly regards Obama as being one rung higher on the evolutionary ladder than the rest of us Homo sapiens: Homo obamus.
In recognition of the superiority of Homo obamus, we should immediately set about putting his visage on Mount Rushmore
While the granite is being sculpted, every street in the U.S.A. that’s named after another president should be renamed after Obama: NYC’s Madison Avenue should become Obama Avenue, San Francisco’s Fillmore Street should be renamed Obama Street, all three Washington Streets in Boston should be named after Obama, and so on.
Oh, and while we’re at it all the planets named after gods should also be renamed after Obama. Of course it would be confusing for astronomers since the Earth is the only planet not so named, but it may be the only tribute grand enough to properly honor Homo obamus.
Editorial Note: Check out The Stiletto’s Twitter feed, for Nobel Peace Prize trivia that puts Obama’s undeserved award into proper perspective.
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