When I heard this on NPR today, in that crazy state between sleep and wakefulness, I thought it was BS. I took sinus meds last night and had crazy dreams so anything was possible.

Pssstt...

Gandhi almost won it but...the year he was supposed to get it, he suffered from a slight case of death by assassination and the committee does not award it post humously. Just thought I would slightly correct you on that from the sidelines. Oh, and Carter doesn't count because his was after the fact and for that matter add in Gore too because he never won the Presidency. Sorry for chirping from the sidelines, just wanna make sure you keep your sh*t straight! **damn...getting crumbs all over my good couch!!**

You do realize that a nomination can be submitted by anyone in the field, right? Also, it's not an official designation--it's not as if Hitler was nominated for a Grammy for his audiobook version of Mein Kampf. Apparently, all sorts of random people are nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because of that open entry qualification. Don't you think, as dictators, that Hitler, Stalin, or Mussolini had people who were willing to nominate them?

Furthermore, Carter did not win it for what he did during his Presidency, but for what he did after he left the Oval Office. That distinction has always been made.

This is not about Obama. He did not award himself this prize. But ok.

This is about Obama, the Nobel committee, and whatever else people want to comment on.

I appreciate the SHORT press conference. :)

Obama says he will accept the Prize as a call to action and a source of inspiration. Well, that's why the Award was awarded prematurely--it was an award for the promises of the Administration.

And, yes Obama, this Award will create pressure for you and most likely influence your decisions from this point on.

There was quite a bit of buzz about this in my first lecture this morning (and about us bombing the moon too, but that's a whole 'nother issue). The sentiment of 95% of my classmates was that the award is extremely premature given the lack of any significant results from Obama.

The other 5% would watch Obama back over their puppy, and still think the sun shined out his.......

@Phil

Well, my statement was not about Obama. The Nobel Foundation is a private foundation that has specific criteria that it uses to select the folks that will be awarded a prize in any given year. The folks designated to vote answer only to their collective interpretation of that criteria. By virtue of the fact that they have selected Obama to receive the award, he deserves it.

It is, in a lot of ways, akin to sorority or fraternity membership. It's like someone telling you that a Delta, who you voted into the organization, does not deserve to be a Delta. What would your response be? I am sure that it would be something like, who are you--an outsider--to tell me--a member--who deserves to be voted into my organization.

That's a stretch.

Ok, I will qualify, he deserves it in the eyes of the folks that get to make that decision, and, in this situation, they are the only ones who really count.

Little32..check ur PM

Little32 is confusing the belief that Obama doesn't deserve the award with the belief that the Nobel Foundation's doesn't have the ability to award it to him based on their criteria.

Obviously they can and they did. Everyone doesn't have to think it's well deserved. The same goes for nonDeltas' opinions on who becomes a Delta. I certainly have opinions on the worthiness of some people who joined other GLOs.

We all know that organizational criteria are sometimes stretched and bypassed when possible, and interpretations of the criteria can be adjusted to suit a purpose, so there's no surprise there.

I am not confused. But ok.

Then you can get over the fact that not everyone thinks Obama deserves it. :)

And you can get used to the fact that in the minds of those that count, in this situation, he does. :neutral:

I think that it is a great surprise to many and a wonderful honor for him.