World Watch
October 9, 2009 9:21 AM

The Audacity of the Nobel Committee

By
Mark Phillips
Topics
World Watch
(AP Photo/Torbjorn Gronning)
The sound you could hear this morning was of heads being scratched around the world.

Very quickly, the Nobel Committee found itself having not just to explain its choice of President Barack Obama for the Peace Prize, but to defend it.

(Left: Chairperson of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjorn Jagland, with pictures of Nobel Peace Prize laureate 2009 Barack Obama, at The Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo Friday, Oct. 9, 2009.)

There have been controversial selections before, but rarely one that caused this much puzzlement.

Yes, as the committee said, President Obama had changed the tone of American diplomacy, particularly in contrast to the Bush years. As more than one commentator had put it, the Bush/Cheney administration had used diplomacy as a last resort.

Now, the committee said, there was an American president who wanted to talk about Middle East peace, about reducing nuclear arsenals, about Iranian uranium enrichment, about climate change.

But to give him the most prestigious prize in the world for merely the aspirations of policy rather than for any results seemed unprecedented.

In the past, as encouragement, the Nobel Prize had be awarded to personalities who were in the midst of campaigns deemed to be desirable but which had not yet been successful. There had even been awards to people many thought shouldn't have received it — Henry Kissinger in 1973 for negotiating a cease-fire in Vietnam comes to mind. (His North Vietnamese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, declined the honor.)

But it's the timing of this award that has caused such wonder. It's not just that it is only nine months or so into the Obama administration, at a time when, however many initiatives there are, there is not yet much to show for them. It's the fact that the nominations for the award actually went in last February when Mr. Obama had barely been in office a month.

In announcing the award, the Nobel committee said, "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." But others have wondered if hope is enough. Certainly there was audacity in this selection.

Watch video of Nobel award ceremony from AP Television
Watch a shocked Bob Schieffer's analysis
Watch Mark Phillips' report on the Prize
Read excerpts from the Nobel citation awarding Mr. Obama
Common Nobel Prize myths debunked
WorldWatch: The Audacity of the Nobel Committee
List of Past U.S. Winners


While there's been plenty of congratulations, these have usually been accompanied by a sense of wonder. One former winner, former Polish president and Solidarity leader Lech Walensa, seemed to sum up the mood when he said, "So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act."

By CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips

Add a Comment See all 100 Comments
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by endurorob_5 October 12, 2009 8:31 AM EDT
I was in my car listening to the radio when I first heard this news. At first I din't think I had actually heard correctly what was said but then it was repeated and all I could do was laugh at the absurdity of awarding this to someone who has accomplished nothing especially when he was nominted a month after taking office. This is a bit of a slap in the face to all those that actually did something to earn the prize. Also I metioned this to my wife at dinner and she about spit out the bite of food she had in her mouth.
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by jaysea32 October 12, 2009 8:24 AM EDT
There is so much criticism about the president having received the Nobel. Now, before getting too critical, consider a couple of things that the public doesn't know. First, when the president was doing all his travelling early on, none of us knows what discussions were taking place at the various stops - and, by the way, he was critized for that too. And second, we don't know what information the selection committee had on which to base their choice. Personally, it is my opinion that ultimately it will prove to have been an appropriate selection.
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by Orlandojon October 12, 2009 6:32 AM EDT
Simple really...the Nobel committee is trying to influence how Obama conducts foreign policy. This by making him earn the prize after the fact.
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by yeswecansofu October 12, 2009 6:23 AM EDT
it's amazing to me that there is so much hate for one another in america. americans need to grow up and act like the country it's suppose to be. you should be proud of your president. yes he's only been in office for 9 months, but the perception around the world is far more healthier than it has been for a very long time. america needs to give him the chance to do what he was hired to do. instead of attacking him watch what he can do for you, america. he's not in office to destroy the country he loves. he's there to do the best he can for you and his country. yes i agree the n.p.p. was awarded a little too soon, but respect the man for recieving it. it could have been worse. it could have gone to another terrorist like bush or cheny. right? so smile and be proud of your president and allow him to lead as he was elected to do. grow up and work together for the betterment of your country and most of all the world. be the superpower you are viewed as and lead by example america.
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by hmmIwonder October 12, 2009 1:51 AM EDT
It takes a wise committee to discover a wise man. Amen
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by Ceres6 October 11, 2009 10:37 PM EDT
The night before Mr. Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, some reports coming from Norway and Sweden were indicating that a Colombian woman, Ms. Piedad Cordoba, was the favorite to win it. Even though it cannot be denied that occasionally she has tried to help liberate some people kidnapped by the terrorist group known as Farc, most of her efforts have been to paint that group of criminals as brave Colombian patriots. In addition, she is always looking for ways to help portray Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan tyrant, as a good and innocent guy. And she has insulted and slandered in the most horrible ways the present Colombian government. Therefore, I wonder about the mental stability of the people in the Nobel Peace Prize selection committee. Somebody should check if they are smoking something fishy behind closed doors.
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by lovetheair October 11, 2009 7:46 PM EDT
I received Somewhat of a challenge by a poster who said that the main "hate" is from the Republicans and suggested I go to the site about the Nobel Prize. Most posters who were not for Obama getting the award were critical but not hateful. Things such as too soon, doesn't deserve it, hasn't accomplished anything and such were most common, although some were more critical. So I went through every post to see who were most hateful, and this is what I found, but first the criteria.

If a person used name calling - Libtards, Repukes, Dimocraps, and such, I considered it hate. If they called the other party names such as anti-American, unAmerican,, racist, bigots, I considered that hate. If they just made a point but weren't necessarity "nice" I did not count that. I tried to be fair and not count posts twice even though some were duplicates.

Republicans/Conservatives resorted to name-calling 10 times in the 116 posts. They made comments about Obama not deserving award, but unless it was really hateful, I did not count it.

Democrats/Liberals resorted to name-calling 22 times. With them using Anti-American, racist and bigots the most when referring to Republicans. They did a lot of praise for Obama, which is to be expected. I did not count the hate comments directed at other politicians or other Republicans such as Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh unless they were really hateful.

Additionally Bush had 9 comments using hateful language. Reagan had 1. Sarah Palin 2.

I'm sure there is a margin of error, although I tried to be fair. I report, you decide who are the most hateful.

Please keep in mind if a person simply disagreed, it was not hateful. Only when name-calling got involved.
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by msimamaji October 11, 2009 5:23 PM EDT
Let's go back to the campaign of 2008. If you remember the GOP was taking turns at ridiculing both Obama's race (Limbaugh called him a Halfrican) and his funny name - rather unaware that Hussein and Barack are two of the most common names in the Islamic world.

Let's remember the GOP's pledge to "bomb Iran" and to go to war not only in Iran, but also in Georgia, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela. Let's remember GOP columnist Ann Coulter's solution to Middle East problems. Basically bomb their cities, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. Let's remember the lynch mob atmosphere of fear, greed, hatred, and ignorance that Sarah Palin stirred up every time she made an appearance.

And let's remember the carnage of the Iraq war, a war Bush started simply because Halliburton wanted control of Iraq's oil and because Bush wanted to be known as a wartime President. And let's also remember that the GOP to this day refuses to acknowledge that global climate change exists, and has absolutely no response to what will ultimately be the most serious threat to the survival of humanity.

In spite of a 24/7 fear and smear campaign waged not only by the GOP, but also by most of the media, Barack Obama stood up against this toxic atmosphere and declared a new beginning for the world. And the right wing has the nerve to say that Barack Obama hasn't done anything.

The GOP and the right wing are a bunch of Haters.

That's the term that comes to my mind. As a retired teacher who spent a life time teaching in an inner city high school in south Los Angeles, I know them when I see them.

If you are unfamiliar with the inner city, haters is the word. my students used it to describe a clique of students, usually girls, who refused to accomplish anything productive, and instead spent their energies bad-mouthing students who tried to make something out of their lives.

I also saw the same mentality behind a bumper I saw one day which said "MY KID BEAT UP YOUR HONOR STUDENT." Recently an honor student in Chicago was beaten to death by a gang of thugs. That tragedy is NOT new. Killing like that have occurred in Los Angeles on a regular basis, and one of the reasons I rarely left my classroom was to provide a safe haven for students during the school day.

So all the hatred and animosity that the GOP and the right wing spews simply proves that they are no better than the thugs and know-nothings back at my former school.

Let's consider Obama's own reaction to receiving the Peace Prize
´I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

AND

"We can't accept a world in which more people are denied opportunity and dignity that all people yearn for -- the ability to get an education and make a decent living; the security that you won't have to live in fear of disease or violence without hope for the future."

AND

"This award is not simply about the efforts of my administration -- it's about the courageous efforts of people around the world.

"And that's why this award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity -- for the young woman who marches silently in the streets on behalf of her right to be heard even in the face of beatings and bullets; for the leader imprisoned in her own home because she refuses to abandon her commitment to democracy; for the soldier who sacrificed through tour after tour of duty on behalf of someone half a world away; and for all those men and women across the world who sacrifice their safety and their freedom and sometime their lives for the cause of peace."

You will never find such quality of leadership in the GOP, Wall Street, and certainly NOT in the media. And you certainly did not see these words coming out of the mouth of President Bush who started a war so he could be called a war president, and who expected streets, public squares and cities to be renamed in his honor.

Obama made it clear that the Nobel Peace Prize was not his prize but a prize for the American people. The gang of GOP, right-wing haters who are no on the attack don't hate Obama - they hate America. Like the ignorant, indolent adolescents I described, they have not positive vision for themselves or for America, and they cannot stand to America transcend the gutter if ignorance, violence, hatred, and fear that they themselves inhabit. Just like the Taliban, they want to see America fail.
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by wingsblu October 11, 2009 11:07 AM EDT
The man has taken the Worlds Heart and people follow. It was given for Peace and pulling people together, all peoples
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