Obama's Nobel Win: A "Mission Accomplished" Moment?

By: Steve Chaggaris
Topics: White House

(AP Photo/Torbjorn Gronning)

Today's Nobel Peace Prize announcement raises the question: Is a negative caricature of President Obama now fully developed?

One thing that eluded Mr. Obama during his presidential campaign was that he was never successfully lampooned by the Republican Party.

Unlike past failed Democratic presidential candidates, the president avoided being stereotyped as "all talk, but no substance" last year, no matter how hard the GOP tried. And the Republican Party has a long history of successfully mocking their opponents in simple, negative and ultimately effective terms.

Remember in 2000 when Al Gore was painted as a serial exaggerator with a boring, stiff, and overall uncomfortable persona? Or John Kerry in 2004 as a "flip-flopper" who didn't really "earn" his Purple Hearts and ultimately dishonored his fellow troops when he returned from Vietnam?

Republicans failed to make anything stick to Mr. Obama in 2008. All their efforts to paint him as radical or not American or inexperienced didn't work.

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Well, today's announcement - while totally out of the president's control - finally may have handed his critics their own "Mission Accomplished" moment.

Like the Democrats did after President Bush prematurely declared the Iraq war "accomplished" on that aircraft carrier in 2003, the right is already using the Nobel prize as an opportunity to hammer Mr. Obama for not having accomplished what he's being honored for.

"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?'" Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said in a statement.

"It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights," he added.

"I don't believe this," Rush Limbaugh exclaimed on his radio show this afternoon. "He's not only the first post-racial president, he's the first post-accomplishment president. He's now judged on wishful thinking."

The president hasn't "done diddly-squat" to deserve it, Limbaugh added.

But it's not just the harsh rhetoric from the right - rhetoric that will only grow louder over the weekend on the Sunday talk shows - that threatens the president.

It's the comedy gold that the blogosphere as well as the late night talk show hosts and "Saturday Night Live" will exploit to no end.

In fact, there's already a joke formula that's exploded: fill in the blank with your favorite award (Oscar, American Idol, etc.) and say that President Obama has already won it without accomplishing anything to deserve it.

And give credit to the folks at "SNL" who were a week early when they mocked Mr. Obama as all talk and no action last Saturday.

"When you look at my record," said SNL actor Fred Armisen as President Obama. "It's very clear what I've done so far -- and that is nothing."

Today's announcement only serves as more fodder for Mr. Obama's critics, dumping more fuel on the "all-flash-with-few-results" persona that they tried so hard to trump up last year and now, to their glee, may be fully developed.

More CBSNews.com Coverage on Obama Winning the Nobel Peace Prize:

Obama: Nobel Prize a "Call To Action"
Analysis: Nobel Peace Prize Doesn't Help Obama
The Audacity of the Nobel Committee
Nobel Peace Prize an Unprecedented Honor for Obama
Obama's Next "Most Important Speech"
Placing a Wager on Peace
Nobel Peace Prize Shocks Bloggers: "This is Insane"

Obama's Remarks: Video Text
Politics of Obama's Nobel Win
Washington Unplugged: Nobel Prize "Complicates Things" for Obama
Nobel Peace Prize Photos
What's Your Opinion?

Steve Chaggaris is CBS News' Political Director. You can read more of his posts in Hotsheet here.

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by sfcmac2 October 10, 2009 4:34 PM EDT: Newsflash, Steve: The ?Mission Accomplished? moments have occurred in rapid succession, starting with every promise he broke about fixing the economy, every lie he's told about his government-run ObamaCare proposals, and now, his cut and run strategy in the war against Islamofascism.
My first impression was, ?you?ve got to be kidding?, but then I remembered they also gave the Nobel to Jimmy Carter and Al Gore.
If I didn?t know they were actually serious, I would have said Ashton Kutcher is in a nearby van, with a pair of headphones. Gone are the days when the requisite for this award was doing something worthy of its symbolism, although Albert Nobel was best known for inventing dynamite. Once upon a time, you actually had to accomplish something good to receive it.
Like Carter, Obama has never met a dictator he doesn?t like. He?s a socialist empty suit who kowtows and apologizes to every malefactor on the planet. That must be the new requirement for the Nobel. Just wait until he gets done making the world a lot less safe with his bumbling ?diplomacy?.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is laughing his ass off.; Reply to this comment


by msimamaji October 9, 2009 6:19 PM EDT: Haters!!!
That was the term that students used to describe cliques of foul-mouthed teenager girls who had no desire to accomplish anything in their lives, but spared no expense in bad-mouthing students who did. Rush Limbaugh, the right wing and the GOP are on the same gutter-snipe mentality as the know-nothings in the inner city high schools where I taught. (I retired two years ago)
I'd suggest all the haters listen to Obama's words. He made it clear that it was the American people who really won and deserved this award. Does the GOP and the right wing see anything wrong with that? Or do they hate America for electing Obama and are they ready to join GOP governor Rick Perry in his drive to secede from the Union?
Once again, the GOP is "acting its color"(To borrow a term from August Wilson's The Piano Lesson.) Once again, the GOP reveals that they are a bunch of embittered, old white guys (PLUS Michael Steele, the quintessential oreo .) who hate America and will do everything they can to destroy this country.
Obama's winning the Nobel Prize is not Obama's victory - it is a victory for all of us in America, and all of use throughout the world who want the build a new world where everyone can life together like brother rather than perish together like fools.(Courtesy of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Martin Luther King.)
Remember the words of Jesus - "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall see God."
P.S. I clearly remember when Martin Luther King received the Nobel Peace Prize. A similar group of haters attacked Martin Luther King's award for the same reason.Some things never change.; Reply to this comment


by rickwar October 9, 2009 6:06 PM EDT: F Rush and his listners, birthers, conspiracy clans, the far right. We really don't care what you think and in case you didn't notice neither did the majority of Americans who helped elect Mr Obama.

Still don't get it do you? Didn't think so; Reply to this comment


by brendett October 9, 2009 6:00 PM EDT: CONGRATULATIONS PRESIDENT OBAMA; Reply to this comment


by boatdocster October 9, 2009 5:54 PM EDT: No Way. Even on Obama's worst day, he will never be as stupid as GW Bush (and for Georgie, that was a daily occurrence).; Reply to this comment


by ynot4tony October 9, 2009 5:41 PM EDT: Time to pull a Kanye West.

Now Barack Obama, I'm happy for you, and Imma let you finish...but Ronald Reagan was one of the most effective proponents of peace of all time.; Reply to this comment


by Iamthemango October 9, 2009 5:29 PM EDT: Rush Limbaugh is a horrible person, but this time he's got a point.

Barack Obama ran his entire campaign based on not being Bush, so it is only fitting he should get the NotBush Wishful Thinking Prize.; Reply to this comment


by stuart-johns2 October 9, 2009 5:04 PM EDT: (AP)Democratic National Committee communications director Brad Woodhouse is suggesting Republicans are siding with terrorists in their criticism of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize award.

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists ? the Taliban and Hamas this morning ? in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize," Woodhouse said in a statement.

Woodhouse was responding to comments like this one, from Republican National Committee chief Michael Steele: "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."

Said Woodhouse: "Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize ? an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride ? unless of course you are the Republican Party."

He added: "The 2009 version of the Republican Party has no boundaries, has no shame and has proved that they will put politics above patriotism at every turn. It's no wonder only 20 percent of Americans admit to being Republicans anymore ? it's an embarrassing label to claim."

See. This is really an American honor. This is an affirmation of a new U.S. government that understands that we live in a globally connected world. It is an award that Obama deserves, although admittedly, others may deserve it more. Never-the-less, this takes nothing away from those who have won it and takes nothing away from those who should win it.

It is an award that proclaims freedom from the dark ages that our last administration dragged us and the entire world into. It is affirmation from the sane world which attests that the vision of freedoms, of human rights, of peace, of global cooperation in all matters is what Obama stands for and something the world wants Obama to succeed at.

The republicans who oppose this do so for obvious nefarious reasons. The republicans cannot see the entire picture through their antiquated biases and hate.

It's interesting that not one republican said on any of the posts today that they felt proud of America for recieving this award vicariously through their President. That is all too telling of their real motivatiions in objecting to this award.

The republicans will of course use this against Obama and once again prove that they will cut off their nose to spite their face. It is their award too but they won't care. Obama was associated with it and that's reason enough to say no to it.

This an award which reflects the hopes and aspirations of millions of people around the world. It's too bad the republicans can't join with us in those hopes.

Obama should be given the nobel peace prize just for having to deal with these un-american republicans.; Reply to this comment


by chaseangus October 9, 2009 5:04 PM EDT: Washington DC has become a joke...the warm up act was G. Bush II. Obama is the main event. And now he's managed to make even winning the Nobel Prize a tawdry event.; Reply to this comment


by jwhitwell October 9, 2009 5:02 PM EDT: "Like the Democrats did after President Bush prematurely declared the Iraq war "accomplished" on that aircraft carrier in 2003..."

Hey, that's a damned lie and you know it; no one declared the war 'accomplished' - that was about that ship returning home - THEIR mission was accomplished.

Stop with the propaganda, CBS.; Reply to this comment