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Congratulations with Caveats
Oct. 9th, 2009 01:16 pmMr. Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Surprising. Congrats, Mr. President!
The Nobel Committee commented, "Sure, Obama hasn't accomplished that much yet to 'end militarism and war', but compared to the last guy, he's practically Gandhi!" Okay, I kid, but that really does seem to be the sentiment.
Obama at least seems to understand the situation:
Mr Obama - woken up with the news early on Friday - said in an address at the White House that he was "surprised and deeply humbled" by the award.
He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of some of the "transformative figures" who had previously received the award.
Speaking outside the White House, he said he would accept the prize as a "call to action".
I certainly hope so.
ETA: Alternately, you could interpret the awarding of the prize in a way that's less over-excited and more grimly pessimistic.
ETA2: FiveThirtyEight's writup is interesting, since they seem to be the only ones defending the Nobel committee's statements that the choice was based on Obama's record.
ETA3: Also, Glenn Beck's take is one of the funniest things I've seen attributed to Glenn Beck.
The Nobel Committee commented, "Sure, Obama hasn't accomplished that much yet to 'end militarism and war', but compared to the last guy, he's practically Gandhi!" Okay, I kid, but that really does seem to be the sentiment.
Obama at least seems to understand the situation:
Mr Obama - woken up with the news early on Friday - said in an address at the White House that he was "surprised and deeply humbled" by the award.
He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of some of the "transformative figures" who had previously received the award.
Speaking outside the White House, he said he would accept the prize as a "call to action".
I certainly hope so.
ETA: Alternately, you could interpret the awarding of the prize in a way that's less over-excited and more grimly pessimistic.
ETA2: FiveThirtyEight's writup is interesting, since they seem to be the only ones defending the Nobel committee's statements that the choice was based on Obama's record.
ETA3: Also, Glenn Beck's take is one of the funniest things I've seen attributed to Glenn Beck.
