Little-Acorn
10-09-2009, 11:05 AM
The other thread on this subject has degenerated into the usual snarlfest between the usual leftists and rightists. Some facts from the people involved, and from reporters not given to bashing liberals, might help for a change.
Here are direct quotes from Reuters, a news service with a long record of extraordinary praise for liberals of all stripes.
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http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5981JK20091009
Obama is surprise winner of Nobel Peace Prize
Fri Oct 9, 2009 11:36am EDT
Obama's Nobel seen as "daring" bet on future
by Matt Spetalnick and Wojciech Moskwa
WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) -
The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for "his extraordinary efforts ...."
...Obama so far has made little tangible headway as he grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.
Despite troubles at home including a struggling economy that have eroded his once-lofty approval ratings....
(From another Reuters article at http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE5983AM20091009?virtualBrandChannel=11621:)
"The guy hasn't solved any conflict anywhere so how can he win the peace prize? But if we don't reelect him the next go around we will all look like idiots because the world has anointed him," said Schultz, who lives in a suburb of Dallas.
Some said the choice could damage the Nobel committee's credibility and that of the award.
"It looks less like an objective award than it does a political endorsement," said William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta ....
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Bottom line: The award was given, not for any particular achievement (according to Reuters there was none), but to praise efforts while carefully avoiding the questions of (a) did the efforts achieve any laudable results, and (b) whether the efforts could EVER have any positive results.
Here are direct quotes from Reuters, a news service with a long record of extraordinary praise for liberals of all stripes.
--------------------------------------
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE5981JK20091009
Obama is surprise winner of Nobel Peace Prize
Fri Oct 9, 2009 11:36am EDT
Obama's Nobel seen as "daring" bet on future
by Matt Spetalnick and Wojciech Moskwa
WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) -
The bestowal of one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for "his extraordinary efforts ...."
...Obama so far has made little tangible headway as he grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea.
Despite troubles at home including a struggling economy that have eroded his once-lofty approval ratings....
(From another Reuters article at http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE5983AM20091009?virtualBrandChannel=11621:)
"The guy hasn't solved any conflict anywhere so how can he win the peace prize? But if we don't reelect him the next go around we will all look like idiots because the world has anointed him," said Schultz, who lives in a suburb of Dallas.
Some said the choice could damage the Nobel committee's credibility and that of the award.
"It looks less like an objective award than it does a political endorsement," said William Jelani Cobb, a history professor at Spelman College in Atlanta ....
-------------------------------------------------
Bottom line: The award was given, not for any particular achievement (according to Reuters there was none), but to praise efforts while carefully avoiding the questions of (a) did the efforts achieve any laudable results, and (b) whether the efforts could EVER have any positive results.