President Barack Obama overcame a very crowded field of potential finalists to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Obama took home the award, and the big cash prize, for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Given that he faced some pretty fierce competition, it’s kind of surprising that he won. (I’m not sure anyone in America even knew he was nominated.) It’s also kind of surprising that he won considering the universal response on Twitter this morning is people asking, “Wait, what? Why did he win the Nobel Prize again? What did he do?”
The only thing I can think that he’s done is win the Presidency and not be George Bush. This historic and random victory makes Obama the third sitting President to win the Nobel Prize after Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919. This must be some kind of weird gift from the Swedish and Norwegians. I mean, that’s pretty much his big accomplishment, unlike people like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and other famous winners.
I have no place to criticize, I’m just mystified (like everyone else). In the words of 1983 Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa, “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”
Tags: Barack Obama, President Obama, Obama Nobel Prize, Nobel Peace Prize 2009, President wins Nobel Prize