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09 October 2009

I'm not in the States and am out of the loop, but did anyone else know Obama was a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize?

post by: Specklet at: 04:53 | 21 comments

The consolation prize for not getting Chicago the Olympics?

posted by danf 09 October | 06:29

I had no idea. Thought it was probably a hoax when I saw the news on Twitter, was astonished when I checked the BBC and it was true.

posted by TheophileEscargot 09 October | 06:34

I had no idea until I saw on TV a few seconds ago that he won.

posted by dg 09 October | 06:40

Yeah, I was floored to see it plastered all over my Facebook feed from reputable sources.

posted by Stewriffic 09 October | 07:42

I just said, "Wait, WHAT???" in my house, and Stynxno said, oh, you saw the news about Obama. That is really amazing.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 09 October | 08:45

Apparently even the Obama administration didn't know. Quite a thing to wake up to!

posted by BoringPostcards 09 October | 09:08

We have a running joke in my house: my husband wakes me up every morning, and every morning (knowing that he has already seen the headlines) I ask, "Is Castro dead?". Obviously, the answer is no, not yet. We have been doing this for years.
This morning, he came into the bedroom to wake me, and preempted my question by saying, "Castro isn't dead, but this is big news, too". When he told me, my response was, "For what?" That seems to be the prevailing question at this point.

posted by msali 09 October | 09:10

Weird. Slow year for peace apparently.

posted by danostuporstar 09 October | 09:13

dano: that's what I thought. And isn't that sad that the best we could come up for "peacemaker of the year" is the "guy who isn't acting like Bush/Cheney".

posted by crush-onastick 09 October | 09:29

We have a running joke in my house: my husband wakes me up every morning, and every morning (knowing that he has already seen the headlines) I ask, "Is Castro dead?". Obviously, the answer is no, not yet. We have been doing this for years.

Ha! That's a good story. A few years ago, there was a rumor going around (started by Perez Hilton) that they were just about to announce that Castro was dead. I was going out to dinner, so I told ColdChef, look, please text me if the official word comes out that Castro's dead. During dinner, I get a text, my heart leaps, I open my phone- "Zac Efron was mauled by a cougar". That ColdChef, he thinks he's SO FUNNY.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 09 October | 09:32

Everyone is potentially a Nobel Peace Prize winner; billionaires are routinely nominated by their friends and flunkies for the charitable contributions that they make for the tax writeoff. I think that W has been nominated every year since 2001. That having been said, nthing danostuporstar.

posted by Halloween Jack 09 October | 10:21

"For what?" was my response, too, and I'm an Obamamaniac.

(oh, and I just gave an office tour to tangerine!)

posted by mrmoonpie 09 October | 10:32

Weird.

Doubly weird to think it's weird as *I* personally feel exponentially safer today than I did at this time a year ago (or, especially, two years ago). I didn't think my first world perception of safety factored into it, but maybe it does or maybe the hope I feel really is also felt in more directly war-ravaged countries, despite there seeming to be little change in their situations.

posted by danostuporstar 09 October | 10:36

Yeah, I'm as Obamarama as the next schmoop, but can't quite get to what he's done specifically that would qualify his award here.

Still, every little bit helps I guess.

As for me, I'm voting for the enormously-pregnant woman who just strolled by dressed to the nines and with a purposeful bent to her stride.

posted by Lipstick Thespian 09 October | 11:06

yeah, I wake up to NPR and this was quite a way to get my attention. Obama has been directly addressing the Muslim world, and I suspect most of us don't notice/care. other than that, it seems to be a way for Europe to say to the US: Thanks for getting rid of Bush/Cheney.

posted by theora55 09 October | 11:07

My response, "Oh."

posted by deborah 09 October | 11:30

other than that, it seems to be a way for Europe to say to the US: Thanks for getting rid of Bush/Cheney.

Exactly. And that cheapens the award.

posted by jason's_planet 09 October | 12:00

I'm happy for him, even if it is a Bush/Cheney dis. I didn't really think Al Gore deserved it.

It seems like the Peace Prize is the one based on most intangible things. Science & physics go to something like a new formula or gene or treatment, literature goes to books.

The way I see it is they gave it to him because he *listens* to people & reopened diplomacy channels. As for peace itself, he did facilitate the agreement w/ Russia for arms reduction.

From Wikipedia:

On closer inspection, the peace-laureates often have a lifetime's history of working at and promoting humanitarian issues

posted by chewatadistance 09 October | 12:13

List of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq From The Washington Post

The last one was three days ago -- although he appears not to have died in combat proper, I have to wonder what his family would make of this award.

posted by jason's_planet 09 October | 12:16

I thought this was pretty funny:

"After I received the news, Malia walked in and said, 'Daddy, you won the Nobel Peace Prize, and it is Bo's birthday.' And then Sasha added, `Plus, we have a three-day weekend coming up.' So it's -- it's good to have kids to keep things in perspective."

posted by chewatadistance 09 October | 12:17

Teddy Roosevelt won it for helping end the Russo-Japanese war. World War Three is still underway.

posted by brujita 10 October | 02:14

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