Should President Barrack Obama have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?

By Peter Merz

The "Rainbow" Tour (featuring the dynamic duo of Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama, and the man of the hour himself – Barrack Hussein "I'm So Sorry" Obama) set out on an ambitious mission to Copenhagen to make the case for bringing the Olympics to Chicago. Hope was high. Can we bring the Olympics to Chicago? Yes we…can't. Michelle Obama's tears did not persuade the IOC. Nor did Obama's Perry Mason-esque (maybe he should have gone with more of a Matlock approach) arguments that the Olympics should be held in Chicago so he could walk to the Olympic Games without having to drive or worry about parking (perhaps he should have also mentioned it would help him leave a smaller carbon footprint).

Formerly Obama-friendly newspapers (like the Guardian) called attention to this loss and hinted that it would be damaging to Obama on the political scene. On the heels of that loss Saturday Night Live (SNL) decided that the honeymoon was over and trashed him in the opening spot on SNL – touting that he had basically done nothing since getting elected. Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark!

Not to worry though for all those out there who are still acorns about Barrack Hussein Obama. He's down but he's not out. It may beggar belief, but, he is this year's Nobel Peace Prize recipient!!! Now you may think that is an impressive accomplishment – but you may not realize just how impressive this feat of his really is. The nominations for Nobel Peace Prize nominees were due in by February 1, 2009. Which means that President Obama would have been on the job as President for a grueling 11 (yes, count 'em!) 11 days! After being the U.S. President for 11 stellar days, he gets nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize; thus joining the ranks of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson (both of whom received the coveted Nobel Peace Prize while in office as a sitting President of the U.S.)

So what great achievement or accomplishment did Obama receive this award for? Was it for the lassoing in of the economy? Nope. Was it for bringing a successful and peaceful conclusion to the War on Terror or even the engagement in Afghanistan? Nope. Was it for bringing Iran to their senses and getting them to finally abandon their nuclear programs? Good guess. But wrong. None of those answers. According to Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland it was for climate change. Way to go Barrack, you have brought about climate change. I'm sure Al Gore would be proud of you! But wait Chairman Jagland is not talking about the Inconvenient Truth type of climate change. Here are Chairman Jagland's words in context,

"He [Barrack Hussein Obama] got the prize because he has been able to change the international climate" (Emphasis mine).

Okay so that sounds like an achievement.  Sure it's a weak one, but an achievement nonetheless. But let's check out what Obama's press secretary (Robert Gibbs) has to say on this.

"This [Nobel Prize] represents not the achievements of one man but the hopes of millions around the world."

What the blazes?!! Obama got this award not for an achievement but for audacious hopes!

Oh, but it gets even better. Obama calls his receiving the Noble Peace Prize, "A call to action". So now we have completely politicized the Noble Peace Prize. It's no longer about what one can achieve, but about political capital. To borrow a line (well maybe a few lines) from Charles Dickens,

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

A fellow high school alumni of mine commented that,

"Obama should decline the Nobel Peace Prize and urge that the committee instead give the award posthumously to Neda Agha-Soltan, the woman killed by the Iranian government after the fake June elections (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Neda_Agha-Soltan). Doing this would focus the world on the dangers and illegitimacy of the Iranian regime, while advancing sexual equality around the world. By trying to bring about peaceful reform of Iran's theocracy, Neda truly sought to advance the possibility of Middle East peace."

But sadly, President Obama has missed another golden opportunity in his presidency.

Not to worry; he's given plenty of ammo to the writers of SNL and to all the late night talk show joke writers. President Obama has even given me hope. I'm thinking of contacting the Pulitzer Prize committee about them awarding me the Pulitzer Prize for the novel that I intended to write.