On Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Gas
Obama’s recent winning of the Nobel Peace Prize has taken many people by surprise and has prompted some puzzlement. Why, after all, was Obama awarded the prize nine months into a first term in which much of his administrative efforts have been rather frustrated?
Some possible answers:
1. He closed Guantanamo Bay, pulled out of Iraq, and stabilized Afghanistan. Or at least said he would in the campaign.
2. They’re messing with Glenn Beck and just wanted to see the look on his face.
3. As an African-American, Obama’s election singlehandedly ended racism in America by letting it sublimate into vague protestations of “Marxism” and “Fascism” and “wanting ‘our country’ back”. Vague protestations, that is, backed up with automatic weapons.
4. Simply by being President of the United States of America, he ensures that George W. Bush isn’t.
5. The International Community felt bad about giving the Olympics to Rio.
6. Somehow Rod Blagojevich is involved.
7. His tireless (and selfless) efforts to revive the Republican Party.
8. Since the Nobel Prize Committee has pretty much admitted that their decision is based not on Obama’s actual accomplishments, but rather on what they think (or hope) he’s going to do, we can only conclude that Norway has somehow developed a mutant race of “precogs” who can predict the future like in that Minority Report movie.
9. Bilderberg!
Dr. Bickerstaff's Unearthly Wonderblog 
Nice post. This is not the first time the prize has bee given for what politicians say they are going to rather than what they have done. Arafat won it one year for instance. It does seem a bit bizarre though to choose Obama without even being clear on what they hope he achieves. efforts in diplomacy? come on.
I like your 5th reason/explanation. That’s probably the correct one. 🙂
I disagree with your assessment of the Arafat award. I’ve noticed that alot of people (primarily rightwingers in the US) cite Arafat as an example of the irrelevance of the Peace Prize (not saying you’re doing that here). What they forget is that Arafat was awarded the prize alongside Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres and, with regards to your post, *they* won it for the accomplishment of the Oslo Peace Accords. Unfortunately, the assassination of Rabin and the electoral victory of Hamas meant that the Oslo Accords never lived up to their potential. But the important thing, from the prize’s point of view, is that unlike Obama, they had accomplished something tangible.
It was a curious and perhaps even counter productive move.
In all seriousness, though, I think #4 is the actual reason for the award.
Can’t rule out #8, though.