The American Progressive Democrat Nobel Laureate Alumni Association
So what had the Nobel committees done recently? How about the fact that they awarded Nobel prizes to two prominent critics of the Bush Administration during Bush's presidency? The political slant is made clear in the following National Review excerpt over the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Jimmy Carter:
The official citation contrasted Carter with "a situation currently marked by threats of the use of power." Gunnar Berge, the chairman of the Norwegian prize committee, spelled it out for the slow: The award "should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current [American] administration is taking toward Iraq."What's not to love about Jimmy Carter, whom helped fund the radical Islamic resistance in Afghanistan against the Soviets and whom presided over the collapse of a pro-American Iranian government and its succession by the current terrorist-sponsoring, nuclear-ambitioned theocracy that rejects Israel's right to exist?
Gore, with no earned or peer-reviewed original scientific research credentials, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his high-profile efforts to spread alarmist politically correct "scientific" dogma on climate change and to intimidate legitimate scientific debate on the issue by unilaterally declaring the matter decided.
No doubt John Kerry and Bill Clinton are feeling a little left out... John Kerry probably feels that he himself is responsible for the end of the Vietnam War because of his sensational charges, branding his fellow American GI's as "war criminals" in Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on April 22, 1971.
You could at least make a more legitimate case for Bill Clinton's efforts to stop ethnic cleansing in eastern Europe and his post-presidential efforts to raise funds for humanitarian clauses.
Legitimate American Presidential Nobel Peace Prize Laureates
Teddy Roosevelt won the 1906 Nobel Peace prize for guiding the negotiations of the end of the 1905 Russo-Japanese War. Woodrow Wilson won the 1919 Nobel Peace Prize largely for his work on behalf of the proposed League of Nations, ultimately failing to win Senate confirmation of its covenant.
Obama's Selection Undermines Credibility of the Nobel Peace Prize
Obama became President on January 20. The deadline to be considered for the prize was February 1. And what precisely did Obama did in his first 10 days in office that justified a legitimate nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize? Did he neutralize North Korea's or Iran's nuclear ambitions? Did he break the back of international terrorism? Did he achieve a just, lasting peace in the volatile Middle East? Did he resolve the Somalian piracy problem, threatening the freedom of the seas? Did he halt the Sudanese government-sanctioned atrocities against civilians in Darfur? Even some liberal bloggers, e.g., to the progressive Huffington Post are embarrassed by, at the very least, the lack of substantive contributions underlying the prize (although Gore called Obama's selection "extremely well deserved" and Carter called it a "bold step of international support for [Obama's] vision and commitment"; my only response is that they must have been comparing Obama's merits to their own for the prize).
Obama was suitably humble and gracious in his response to the award; however, it says a lot about his character that he accepted an award that he knows he hasn't earned.
