Barack Obama wins Yasser Arafat Prize*

Chris

You're joking aren't you? You know it is based in Sweden, the prize is in Swedish currency and Nobel himself was Swedish.

I'm sure I'm missing out on a funny joke, please enlighten me.

Alex Bensky

Like everything else about him, Barack Obama gets something for what he is, not for what he has done. The prize committee also gets a chance to demonstrate that it still suffers from Bush Rerangement Syndrome.

Of course, Jimmy Carter won it in part for convincing the North Koreans not to engage in building nuclear weapons and within a week they announced that they had gone ahead and done so. I wonder what event will underscore the fatuity of this award.

stanley Jerusalem

He got it for not being responsible for starting any wars despite his most strenuous efforts.

Janet S

I woke up this morning, checked my Blackberry, then checked to see if this was some sort of joke. Alas, no. At least Obama joins the pantheon of failed presidents least deserving of any prize, while those, like Reagan, who truly change the world for the better, are ignored. What a sick travesty.

Sol

This is Europe's way of saying to America - thanks for getting rid of Bush. We love you again.
It's the sickest of all jokes, since Obama will be recorded in history as the leader (?) who brought the free world closer to WW3 than any other. That's if they ever get to write the history books after the Islamic bomb goes off.

paracelsus

It'd be funny, if it wasn't such a sad reflection on the current state of our world.

The left really loves their own.

Nick

I await the spluttering outrage from the Right with glee.

(Let's face it - Obama won the award because he isn't George Bush)

Mike Wood

The Nobel PEace Prize is awarded by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is nominated by the Norwegian parliament. It is presented at the Oslo City Hall.
The other Nobel prizes are awarded in Sweden.

Leon Gaft

Chris: "Alfred Nobel's will stated that the prize should be awarded by a committee of five people elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Norway and Sweden were at that time still in union, and with Sweden responsible for all foreign policy, Nobel felt that the prize might be less subject to political corruption if awarded by Norway. The Peace Prize is presented annually in Oslo, in the presence of the king, on December 10 (the anniversary of Nobel's death), and is the only Nobel Prize not presented in Stockholm"
Funny joke.... Really funny...

steve bronfman

Yasser Arafat invented plane hijackings and got the prize....'nuff said

We live in a twisted Orwellian world in which the Obama cult of personality outweighs any actual achievements.

My own view is that this is a form of racism. I believe that certain elements within the left are so guilty for past transgressions of Europeans (Mistakenly in many cases e.g. European powers occupied Islamic lands for about 40 years whereas Islamic powers occupied European lands for about 400 preceding that, but I don't see them apologising for their imperialism) since they don't hold Obama to the same standards as say George Bush (who did incredible humanitarian work in Africa largely ignored by the MSM).

Besides some nice soundbites and rhetoric I cannot think of an actual peaceful achievement Obama has made. He's (rightly) increased troop levels in Afganistan. He's royally screwed up in Iran by sacrificing pro-democracy protesters for unconditional negotiations with the regime (despite knowing about their second nuclear reactor) etc etc...All people should be held to the same standards, and treated equally....there is no room for positive discrimination in the Nobel committee because its ultimately patronizing to non-"whites".

One day the left will wake up and face reality....by that time we will probably be living under Sharia law though.

david elder

It will be hard for the Nobel committee to top this next year. Maybe they can give the prize to themselves for uniting the world in laughter.

Tina

Chris
October 9th, 2009 2:44pm:
"You're joking aren't you? You know it is based in Sweden, the prize is in Swedish currency and Nobel himself was Swedish.

"I'm sure I'm missing out on a funny joke, please enlighten me."

Chris, let me enlighten you.

There was once a bunch of people so cerebrally challenged they couldn't cope with the detail of anything in the world, just monosyllabic mantras such as "Yes, we can."

Many of them read The Guardian and to make matters worse they loved to shoot their mouths off so much, they only drew attention to their shortcomings.

The award was announced this morning in Oslo, Norway.

Still, on a day like today, thank you for adding to the gaiety and showing just what Obama supporters are made of.

Carry on laughing, folks. Gordon Brown must surely now get the award for economics.

Kojak

This morning I turned on the radio and heard the Sports News: Peter Taylor sacked by Wycombe Wanderes and John Barnes sacked by Tranmere Rovers - quite understandable given what they had done at their clubs.

This afternoon I tuned in the radio to hear that Barak Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2 weeks work in January.

Mmm (Or rather: Mmm, Mmm, Mmm)

Farewell to the expression "You don't get something for nothing".

Jim Miller

As far as I can tell, the "right" in the US mostly think this is extremely funny. (As do many Obama supporters.)

For instance, I suggested (jokingly) that the Norwegians check the Oslo water supply.

I do worry that this award makes war somewhat more likely in the rest of the world, since it may encourage Obama to continue destructive policies. (For example, his policies have made a civil war in Honduras far more likely.)

(Note to Chris: The Peace Prize (or perhaps we should say the "Peace" prize) is an exception. It is awarded by a Norwegian committee, not a Swedish group.)

George

Chris,

No, Melanie knows the facts. "The Peace Prize is presented annually in Oslo, in the presence of the king, on December 10 (the anniversary of Nobel's death), and is the only Nobel Prize not presented in Stockholm."

Vision Aforethought

Thing is, the prizes now, work later concept has been etched into society with the advent of celebrity culture. After all, every week millions if not billions tune in to watch young 'talents' 'sing' their hearts out - and then these naive individuals have to go prove their worth - and to date, about 4 out of thousands have got anywhere. Rather than the old way, whereby one engaged in a long hard slog and then rewarded when reaching the top.

Obama's award is not his doing, but the result of contemporary thinking. Or lack of.

The meek shall inherit the Earth.

Rachel Miller

Chris, although most of the Nobel Prizes do appear to be awarded by Sweden, the Peace Prize is awarded by a Norwegian body.

Perhaps someone else can explain why?

Charlie

Obama took office on the 20th of January and those being proposed for the prize had be lodged with the committee by the 1st of February.
Just 10 days in office and he did enough to merit the Nobel. Wow!

Ros

Exactly, Nick. Obama won it because he isn't George Bush. Says a lot doesn't it? He hasn't done anything of any merit and, so far, has made the world even less safe.

Jeez. Laugh? If you didn't, you'd throw up.

Charles

No Chris, you're not missing out on a funny joke. Though you have, inadvertently, just made one.

A quick crack at Google should give you the punchline.

workie ticket

The Committee, if they had an ounce of honesty or credibility, could have saved the verbiage in their citation and just said "Up Yours Bush" because thats all this prize represents.

paul a ticks

Welcome to the "he's not Bush" award. They did as much as they could to indicate their loathing of the fine man whop was our former [real] president. To give the award to the bloated jerk, Al Gore, who is daily making dough from his mistaken and self-serve dangerous 'theories,' instead of real fighters for world peace, is a joke. To award the anti-Semite and semi-demented former worst-president, Peanuts, with the award, when he has done nothing but reap oil cash from the very people causing world stress, is a joke. And of course to award the creator of world hijacking and the master-thug of thousands of dead US and world citizens and innocent Israelis is more proof that the Nobel panels are ignoble, brain-deficient, and frighteningly anti-American.

Carmel Crayo

Do we need any more proof that the Norwegians are political whores? Are they any less thuggish, but for their white hair and saunas, than criminal Arafat, whom they also deeded with this used-to-be honor? Ugly ugly ugly people--it is a mark of distinction now to be excluded from that gutter-filled club. Melanie as usual is 100% on the mark.

charion slafuisk

What surprises one most is that the islamist countries now embarked on infiltrating us on every level, aided by the krypto-muslim fascist himself (today's shocked/shocking winner), are the ones who have the best take on this. They have voiced their surprise at how unworthy he is, detailing his lack of achievement, his fumbling in the wars he has badly enfeebled and hobbled, and his lack of grace in every usual presidential field. One would never have assumed we could agree with the likes of Saudia, and the rest of the irksome Gulf States now needling our sensibilities every time we move. But the Swedes have sunk lower than their usual low. Can one regurgitate their national fare in revulsion at their unwholesome politics?

Original Tony

Charlie, you have hit the nail on the head. Obama had only been in office TEN days when the final list of recipients was drawn up! Do the Nobel organizers have a time machine to stare at the future? They didnt even know about his "achievments" then!

Dave Burr

Let us all hope and pray that Obama gets another Peace Prize when he finally delivers Palestine back to its rightful owners. Hurrah !

tom

"Well done, Norwegians! Not since Quisling have you achieved so much for civilisation."

erm.... I know the spectator is meant for middle england but this is pretty basic geography, and in fact anyone who has studied history will have heard of Alfred Nobel and know his origins.
pretty poor journalism

Charlie

Chris,

Look at the link with the star *.
"Maybe If We Changed the Name "

"After a number of years, the NFL renamed its Super Bowl trophy after its most fitting recipient — it's now called the Vince Lombardi Trophy. I'd like to see the Nobel Foundation follow suit. If today's headlines said, "Barack Obama Wins Yasser Arafat Prize," that would be perfect."

porkbelly

Perhaps this should be renamed the "Taking the Peace Prize"?

YA

Obama got this price for his Cairo speech and alike. Other words, for steps towards PEACEFUL integration of the West into Muslim.. eehh.. that, world. Nobel Price is awarded for PEACE. It's not specified what peace, with whom peace, and on whose conditions peace. Can't understand your problem guys. Looks OK to me.

Drakken

WOW When I read that our Dear Leader won the so-called peace prize all I could do was laugh, because now I see we are on the road to hell! good job you Quisling bastards, you have now made war inevitable!

Linda Smith

Let us all hope and pray that Obama gets another Peace Prize when he finally delivers Palestine back to its rightful owners. Hurrah !

The Jews!! Hurrah!!!

Dean

It's so unjust. The massively underrated George Bush Jr. should have got the prize.

Stephen Fox

Actually, for the first time I feel sorry for the guy. Haplessly saying he did not deserve it, he seemed almost aware of the gap between his image and reality.
And if he isn't yet, he will be before too long.
Even from the political perspective of the Nobel committee, this looks like a mistake. It makes them look ridiculous, and Obama a pretender even to his supporters.

Mladen Andrijasevic

I think the US Department of State should issue a diplomatic démarche to the Norwegians for making the US President and the Office of President of the US the laughingstock of the entire world.

workie ticket

I didnt realise that they'd renamed it the 'You're Not George Bush Prize

Darwin Akbar

I'm not George Bush (although I am somewhat to his right on virtually everything...). Can I have a $1 million too? I need it, since Obama is preparing to tax me into the poor house.

Alice Cripps

Obama getting this prize now might not be so bad thing after all. He can now focus on what's necessary --- things like the war on terrow, Iraq, Iran, Islamism etc. --- with out having to worry whether anything he does will jeopardize his chances of winning the prize in the future.

Of course, he might want a second prize ...

Rorschach

Dear Rachel Miller
At the time of Nobel's death, Norway and Sweden were in a union and only separated in 1905. So we share in handing out the prize. Our elites also share a pathological obsession with Israel. Israel is the only country on earth with which Norway and Sweden have "strained" relations. With Saudi Arabia and China and such, we get along just fine. It's a crying shame.

john

Odd Melanie, odd indeed. You group Arafat with Carter and Gore as inappropriate recipients. I would have thought it would have made more sense to group terrorist Arafat with terrorist Begin. But for some reason you didn't.

The funny thing is that I think that had you been alive in the 1940s (indeed you may have been) you would have been writing books called Eretz Yengland and urging tough action against Jewish fundamentalists. I suspect in the right circumstances your bigotry could be directed equally unpleasantly in most directions.

Augustus

Has Obama (Peace be upon him) NOW become the latest of a series of prophets sent by Allah
for the benefit of mankind?

Jimimac

Any and every beauty contest finalist can claim her Nobel Peace Prize at the end of the show, folks. Those lovely peace-loving statements they are all obliged to make are all that is now required. Any high-minded five year old child is a candidate now.
Are the explosives experts of Nobel so ashamed of their environmental credentials that they are now perfecting the "Damp Squib", ideal for those "blue on blue" (friendly fire) horrors?

Bill M

Chris? Oh, Chriiiiiis? You there? Hello?

Straydingo

Chris,

Back in your box :)...but thanks for the chuckle.

Carolyn

I thought it was a joke when I logged onto the Net this morning and saw the headlines. I scrolled down expecting to find someone laughing 'April fools' - only to realize that it's the Nobel Prize Committee that's just made a fool of itself. This is unbelievable.

The Committee had better be afraid. This farce is going to shine a very bright light on the their self-serving ideological blindness. And, trust me, that bright light can be very uncomfortable. (Just ask ACORN.)

Nobells

tom, October 9th, 2009 4:52pm: "erm.... I know the spectator is meant for middle england but this is pretty basic geography, and in fact anyone who has studied history will have heard of Alfred Nobel and know his origins.
pretty poor journalism"

Those Lefties always bringing the truth.

elfraed

The first thing to pop into my mind upon hearing of Mr.Obama's award, was a stanza of "Mademoiselle from Armentieres", about the General who won the Croix de Guerre, and the son of a gun wasn't even there...hinky dinky parlez vous.

d1carter

The Cult of Personality has taken over the world. God Save the USA.

Brian O'Connor

This is proof-positive that ACORN has a franchise in Oslo.

Archie

tom: The Nobel Peace Prize is voted by five NORWEGIAN MPs.

Tony

It's not as if the Peace Prize has meant much in recent times. After all, if Jimmy Carter got it for not being George Bush then surely Barack Obama qualifies. I'm suprised the oil bloated Norwegians didn't give it to Obama last year in the expectation that he'd become POTUS - they must be slipping.

Norwegians are ill served by their stand-up comedy government.

SeniorAmerican

This is such an embarrassment to the American citizens. What is this Nobel committee thinking? What could the criteria possibly be in order to include this man as a prize winner? It just reinforces his ego that the world is in agreement with him. Has anyone asked his countrymen how THEY feel about this? We are absolutely outraged over this. He says that he is "humbled" over the selection ... he doesn't even know what it's like to be "humble". He is looking for a world stage and Norway gave it to him.

Alcove-One

Mr. A'jad in Iran and Hugo Chavez better clear their schedules in 10 years time because surely they will be making trips to Olso for their prize.

Brian O'Connor

If those bozos really think Obama is the greatest thing since sliced bread, they ought to have awarded the prize to the American Voters, whose "accomplishment" was to place the object of the Committee's dreams in the Oval Office.

That's certainly tangible, is it not?

Jonathan Gold

Of course, let's not forget that this prize was also given to Mohamed ElBaradei in 2005. Another enabler of the Iranian nuclear program.

Terry from Oz

Shame sadam hussein isn't around or he'd have won it too!!

Tony Gee

It was for being a successful President for 2 weeks. Nil points and Python spring to mind.

logdon

Maybe they should create a new prize? The Irony Cross.

Augustus

Arafat was a jumped up guerrilla
fighting corrupt little despot.
He no more deserved the Nobel Peace Prize that Idi Amin or Mugabe would have done. It was a PR stunt for the Oslo Accord which produced in Arafat's hands anything but Peace. Obama's award is presumably also a well-orchestrated PR stunt, but it won't make a Palestinian state any less remote than it was a decade ago.
The committee in Oslo will need to choose a genuine peacemaker next time if this world symbol of peace is to regain any genuine significance ever again.

gary ashton

After this, the pigs and their sows start wearing clothes and carrying whips. They begin to have more direct dealings with the neighbouring farmers. One day, the pigs invite a number of the local farmers to inspect the farm. After the inspection, the pigs and the farmers return to the farmhouse for a celebration. After a time, loud noises of laughter and singing are heard through the windows. The other animals are overcome with curiosity, and they approach the farmhouse to see what is going on. They look through the windows to see the pigs and farmers seated around the living room table, playing cards, making speeches and congratulating one another. Mr Pilkington makes a speech telling the pigs how impressed he is with Animal Farm, especially with the hard work and poor rations of the farm animals. Napoleon makes a speech in return, expressing his happiness that the mistrust between Animal Farm and the others is now at an end. He furthermore announces that the animals will cease to address each other as “Comrade,” and that “Animal Farm” will now revert to being called “Manor Farm.” As Napoleon finishes his speech to great applause, the animals outside seem to notice something changing in the features of the pigs, but what?
As the applause dies down and the card game is resumed, the animals creep away from the window. However, they hurry back when they hear a furious argument break out. The argument is because Mr. Pilkington and Napoleon have both played an Ace of Spades at the same time. But as the animals look from Napoleon to Pilkington, from man to pig and from pig back to man, they find that they are unable to tell the difference

stanley Jerusalem

Over the last decade the only requirement to win the prize was that the nominee had to be critical of George W. Bush (see Al Gore, Mohamed El Baradei and Jimmy Carter).
President Obama has broken new ground here. Nominations for potential winners of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ended on February 1. The president took office only 12 days earlier on January 20.
Let’s take a look at the president's first 12 days in the White House according to his public schedule to see what he did to deserve a Nobel Peace Prize:
January 20: Sworn in as president. Went to a parade. Partied.

January 21: Asked bureaucrats to re-write guidelines for information requests.

Held an open house party at the White House.

January 22: Signed Executive Orders: Executive Branch workers to take ethics

pledge; re-affirmed Army Field Manuel techniques for interrogations; expressed desire to close Gitmo (hows that working out?)

January 23: Ordered the release of federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries. Lunch with Joe Biden; met with Tim Geithner.

January 24: Budget meeting with economic team.

January 25: Skipped church.

January 26: Gave speech about jobs and energy. Met with Hillary Clinton. Attended Geithner's swearing in ceremony.

January 27: Met with Republicans. Spoke at a clock tower in Ohio.

January 28: Economic meetings in the morning, met with Defense secretary in the afternoon.

January 29: Signed Ledbetter Bill overturning US Supreme Court decision on lawsuits over wages. Party in the State Room. Met with Biden.

January 30: Met economic advisers. Gave speech on Middle Class Working Families Task Force. Met with senior enlisted military officials.

January 31: Took the day off.

February 1: Skipped church. Threw a Super Bowl party.

So there you have it. The short path to the Nobel Peace Prize: Party, go to meetings, skip church, release federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries, party some more.

Augustus

To give the Peace prize just for an empty suit image of peace and hope seems a bit far-fetched. They should have awarded it to the guy who actually writes Obama's speeches.

Brian O'Connor

Augustus wrote on October 12th, 2009 5:53pm:

To give the Peace prize just for an empty suit image of peace and hope seems a bit far-fetched. They should have awarded it to the guy who actually writes Obama's speeches.

Or, perhaps, instead of the President of the United States (POTUS) receiving the prize, it should have gone to his teleprompter TOTUS.

hardmanb

Obama will screw up Afghanistan by withdrawing US military support, and just pay local warlords to fight for him. He will abandon Iraq to Iranian domination. He will trow Iraq into chaos, withdrawing before the date agreed to by Bush with Iraq.

I just hope that you Europeans realize that Obama has no use at all European allies or any "special relationship" with Europe.

Sorry, we will all have to live with him for a while.

phil

I cannot find a reason to blame Obama for receiving the peace prize ,nor can I see a reason for giving it to him ,for what has he done to achieve peace anywhere ?
He appears to be sponsoring a movement to push around a state that wants peace and backing off from those states who so obviously do not. Soporific words to the lunatics in Iran along with the evil hamas and hesbollah do not have a cat in hells chance of achieving the peace that we all crave for -that day may come when the sponsors of hate and terror come to the conclusion that both Jews and Israelis have a right to live and that the people that are under their own yoke have also a right to freedom of expression and the material benefits provided by a free society .

Netanyahu may not be everyone's choice but he did make an impassioned speech at the UN attempting to offer peace .So far I have not seen anyone else doing the same .I know we live in Alice in wonderland and that normal people with morals and ethics seem to have given up in despair but maybe someone other than the lefty lunatics can explain to this bewildered poster what the hell is going on in my world .

No responses please from guardianistas ,nor edwards or sidgewick ,just from those with unbiased moral views whether you approve of Obama or not .

Herbert Thornton

If the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize were entrusted solely to me, I think I'd put it up for auction on Ebay.

Bidders would be required to undertake to share the prize money with me. I would then award it to the one whose bid gave me the biggest share. Isn't that what's called realpolitik?

Elliott

Where's Kanye West when you need him? When I heard the news I thought the report was from The Onion. But seriously, living in Chicago and witnessing the cesspool of Chicago Machine politics first hand, politicians are used to being lauded for nothing but knowing the right people and giving our tax dollars to their friend and family members. This is a heavily unionized town so merit has NO place anywhere in the City’s governing body…which is now the same governing body that’s in a big house that is white. But the poor bastard doesn’t need a global spotlight on this lack of accomplishments…he does not take criticism too well, after all “we (meaning him) are who we’ve been waiting for”…which does not have the same ring unless you have thousands of Useful Idiots chanting “yes we can”. This awkward moment seems to have move B.O. from cult of personality to SNL joke almost overnight. Now comedians around the world have something truly funny to work with, but will they actually write jokes about The One? I doubt it.

Frank P

Stanley Jerusalem

Nice piece of research there old chap. It encapsulates both the idiocy and wickedness of the award. Thank you.

stanley Jerusalem

You are welcome Frank. It's progressively become a politicised travesty over the last 20 - 30 years.
Problem is that it will never regain the significance it once possessed.

elsa

Tantillo published a piece on his marketing blog on how the this awarding of the prize to Obama has done a lot of damage to the reputation and prestige of the Nobel Prize brand. http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2009/10/12/john-tantillos-brand-winner-and-loser-letterman-and-the-nobel-prize.aspx

On the other side of the debate--this is a thoughtful piece on the reasoning behind the awarding of the prize to Obama: "The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world" - Nobel committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html

els

Tantillo published a piece on his marketing blog on how the this awarding of the prize to Obama has done a lot of damage to the reputation and prestige of the Nobel Prize brand. http://blog.marketingdoctor.tv/2009/10/12/john-tantillos-brand-winner-and-loser-letterman-and-the-nobel-prize.aspx

On the other side of the debate--this is a thoughtful piece on the reasoning behind the awarding of the prize to Obama: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/world/10nobel.html

Mare

Fools I say, complete and utter fools!