Honestly, what were they thinking? I thought it was a joke on a comedy show when I heard it first on the news. Don’t get me wrong, I think (like all us Europeans) that Obama is the cat’s pyjamas and I love it when America is all multilateral and that but, as he said himself, he hasn’t accomplished anything. He is also the President of the United States of America, and there is a serious risk that he might end up waging war during his Presidency because that often seems to happen to American presidents. It’s like the Pope calling Henry VIII the Defender of the Faith. They’re laying themselves open for trouble.
And one of the good things about the Nobel Peace Prize, surely, is that it shines a light on abuses and human rights work of which you might not previously have been aware. I think every sentinent being on the planet knows about Obama. And, I suspect, politically, it might do him more harm than good.
I think it is a case of misplaced European politics (although well-meaning). Obama is facing incredible, nasty, more-than-insane opposition from the Republicans (they depict him as the worst mass-murderer ever…no joke…and, sadly enough, a lot of Americans are dumb enough to believe them). So I think the idea was that the Europenas need to demonstrate a sense of solidarity with him…to show the world that nobody is buying the smear campaign.
But I think you are right, in that it will do him more harm than good. He is being backed into a corner with fewer options and immense expectations.
didn’t Kissinger (!) get a peace prize
I agree with you – the award is embarrassingly premature. And I like Obama too.
I think he would have been wiser to decline it, but at least his acceptance speech was reasonably guarded. Very silly of the Norwegians as it makes it seem like a political, anti-Bush football.
NC, Dot, Nicola yup, I blame those Norwegians. Aunt, well, that’s my point…you’d think they’d learn.
Almost everyone in my (admittedly minuscule) circle of friends and family who I talked to about this agrees–and we’re all americans and obama supporters. God, what were they thinking? At least he responded to it with relative grace and caution.
Yes, Alice, but unnerving all the same.