Obama's Peace Prize After Some Thought

I've gotten over the initial shock of Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. To quote the prize committee themselves, he was given the award "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." When you look at Obama's foreign policy, there's really nothing spectacular there. Other than a watered down speech to the Muslim world back in June, he really has not accomplished anything in terms of foreign relations. There's a lot of rhetoric here, such as his stance on Cuba, but not much action. In reality, his contributions to world peace are few and rather inconsequential. Most of his work has focused on domestic issues. Contrast to the other US presidential laureate, Jimmy Carter. Agree with him or not, he has done a great deal of work in the field of foreign relations throughout the last three decades.

Obama's own shock at receiving the award speaks volumes. The real question now is why he got it in the first place. The prize committee's reasoning is purposefully vague. His efforts certainly weren't extraordinary. As I said, he hasn't focused on foreign policy a great deal. When he has, the world hasn't exactly expressed a great deal of confidence. Coalition nations lament the Oval Office's perceived apathy on the Afghan mission as one example.

Those in charge of the Nobels have admitted that the politics does in fact play a role in choosing the recipients. So who are these committee members? The five member panel is chosen by the Norwegian government. The panel chair is Thorbjørn Jagland, a leading member of the socialist Norwegian Labour Party. It is the country's the current ruling party. Two of the five members belong to the Labour Party, another belongs to the Socialist Left Party, though the remaining two are conservatives. Norway is one of the most left leaning countries in Europe. It's no surprise that they'd support one of the furthest left presidents America has seen. Despite that, there are plenty of other people further on the left that they could have awarded the prize to.

I don't think the prize was awarded to Obama just because he's Obama, Mr. Awesome himself. I cannot help but feel this is all a jab at George W. Bush. He is largely accredited by the left of turning America into an aggressive ultra-nationalist power hated the world over. Hell, whoever replaces him would automatically make the world more peaceful, right? As silly as that sounds, it's most likely the real reason why they chose Obama. Simply because he's not Bush. His goal is to make America into a soft power, which the socialist-left likes. It's just another case of the lefties doing what they do best: patting each other on the back.

Update: It seems the two Labour members forced the prize through. The two right wingers and the Socialist Left Party member objected to the decision made by Jagland.
Source: Reuters