Obama Wins Peace Prize Without Delivering Peace

He can join Al Gore, Yassar Arafat, and of ELbardei in winning the Peace prize without having done anything that actually brought peace anywhere. Seriously, they couldn't have chosen Russian News reporters or political opponents of Hugo Chavez as a way to give them leverage against authoritarian regimes? What about the Iranian street demonstrators as a whole? Oh well this is the era of hope and change, authoritarian regimes are buying weapons left and right and pushing hard to build atomics, while America is paralyzed at the top and they called it peace.

The committee said it wanted to enhance Mr. Obama’s diplomatic efforts. “We are awarding Obama for what he has done,” the committee said. “Many other people and leaders and nations have to respond in a positive way” to President Obama’s diplomacy.

The prize was announced as the Obama administration wrestles with global crises from the Middle East to Iran to southwest Asia while American military forces are still deployed in large numbers in Iraq and the White house is considering whether to increase troop levels in Afghaninstan.

Mr. Obama has appealed for reductions in nuclear arsenals and is seeking to restart peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.But he also confronts challenges from Iran amid fears that Tehran is seeking a nuclear weapon — charges Iran denies.

Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a former prime minister of Norway, told reporters that Mr. Obama, who took office in January, had already contributed enough to world diplomacy and understanding to deserve the prize.

Asked whether the prize was given too early in Mr. Obama’s presidency, he said: “We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future but for what he has done in the previous year. We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do.”

He said the conflict in Afghanistan “concerns us all. We do hope an improvement in the international climate could help resolve that.” Mr. Jagland had been asked by a reporter whether Mr. Obama’s selection for the award was intended to influence the American debate on troops levels in Afghanistan.

“One of the first things he did was to go to Cairo to try to reach out to the Muslim world, then to restart the Mideast negotiations and then he reached out to the rest of the world through international institutions,” Mr. Jagland said, mentioning in particular the recent United Nations Security Council meeting on nuclear disarmament.

For the record the war in Afghanistan grinds on after the O put 21,000 more troops there, Israel and Palestine are just as bad if not even more sour on each other, the President has managed to aid an authoritarian leader in Honduras, Iraq is following Bush's withdrawal plans, Darfur is still a nightmare, and this is just the tip of iceberg. Exit question, would Obama let the choice sway his Commander and Chief Decision making for the rest of his term, after all every military action he takes will be seen with a Peace Prize on the mantel.