President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,". The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited President Obama's outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation as a primary consideration for their selection .
Presiedent Obama is now the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize. President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. After leaving his own presidency, former Democratic President Jimmy Carter, also won the Peace Prize in 2002 and of course, in 2007, the award went to Al Gore, for his extraordinary efforts to raise awareness about global warming.
The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of a new climate in international politics and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.
Rather than simply recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize intended to support initiative: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations, and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."
He added that the committee endorsed President Obama's call to the world: 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."
Shown above:
Work by Susan Shie, titled "Treasure Map":President Obama: A Celebration in Art Quilts
7 comments:
This was shocking to me to read this morning.....I'm definitely not an Obama fan.
Jennifer
I too was also shocked by this news! I can think of many other people that could have won the award. I will shut up now before I get myself introuble! I am also NOT an obama fan.
I was always taught ... if you can't say anything nice then say nothing .... I can't keep my mouth shut.
What we're they thinking ... are they all NUTS.
I am NOT and never will be a fan of B. Husseain Obama ...
Be happy he's not Woodrow Wilson. Woody enjoyed creating political prisoners and gave us the horrors of the Treaty of Versailles and the predecessor to the U.N.
Be happy he's not Jimmy Carter. Pro-Palestine anti-Semitic wonders are teh hawt!
My rant on Teddy is rather boring so everyone just hush now and be blissfully happy. Him doth rocketh! w00t! w00t!
You wrote such a positive post. I guess I am not understanding why it brought out so much negative comments.
As a proud American, I see this as a moment of honor not one to make light of or dishonor. I'm sorry that others took your positive attitude and felt it was necessary to give you back a negative one. I can only hope they did not mean to sound that way. Americans need to stand together and support our government and our soldiers and our flag and all that it represents.
Since you're one of my favorite people I'll just say that once they gave the award to Yassir Arafat, it was no longer a mark of honor as far as I was concerned.
Love you- your posts are so generous and loving. Shuttin' up now.
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