Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

You've got to hand it to the left when it comes to generating positive publicity for their positions. Their support comes so frequently and so swiftly it's hard for their hero, Pres. Obama, to work up a response in a timely fashion. But, he does. He's got a really great team working for him.

Obama's response to winning the Nobel Peace Prize was brilliant.

The problem is that the media has focused largely on the recipient of the prize; what it will mean for him; what it means for his policies. For the president, it makes for good print, but it misses the more important story; namely, what it is that the Nobel Peace Prize is all about? Who are the people who choose the recipients? When Obama, in laudable modesty, asks whether it wasn't a bit premature to award him a peace prize when he hasn't yet served a year in his office and when his achievements have yet to be achieved, asking what these Nobel committee members had in mind when they made this award becomes unavoidable.

The only way this award can be understood is on the basis of politics. And, that's fine. Nobel committee members have every right to express themselves as they see fit. But, the idea of this prize having anything to do with accomplishment is now clearly dead. Getting the Nobel prize is more meaningful than finding oneself on the cover of Time in only one way; with the Nobel prize you also get $1 + million.

Clearly, the Swedes have debased their prize. But this is nothing new. Didn't they also award it to Arafat and Carter? Carter got his for what was little more than a photo op. And the award to Arafat demonstrates that perhaps it would be best to wait until someone dies before awarding him this kind of prize.