I can almost hear the screaming from Dick Cheney and the neocons as they get the news.

Nah, it will be drowned out by the screaming here at the Lake.

The paragraphs are beautiful. They take the wind out of the sails of all those who have and will say that ‘he hasn’t solved the (name your favorite crisis) yet. It’s too early. It’s almost as if the Obama team and written the awards themselves.

I just hope it doesn’t go to his head. That’s the last thing we need at this point.

And here I thought the Nobel Committee was subtle about this kind of thing.

Awesome.

LOL

See the previous thread.

Thanks for the post, Peterr.

The Nobel jury would appear to be attempting to change America’s course rather than profit from its demise.

Awarding the Peace Prize to Mr. Obama is a huge carrot – a reward for his rhetoric about changing America’s foreign (and domestic) policies and a tool to turn that rhetoric into action. It is taking a mild stick to the international community, encouraging it to take this opportunity to persuade him to engage more constructively than his predecessor. Mr. Bush? He was all stick in the rear; he ate the carrots himself.

It seems to me that it is almost a recognition of those citizens in the United States who voted in favor of the expressed sentiments. I would almost be willing to bet that Obama says something to that effect.

Limpy Limbaugh will be having a major petulant frenzy today.

What’s the matter. You don’t enjoy watching relatives argue at Thanksgiving dinner?

Actually, she was there and her comment (along with mine I humbly add) actually helped to turn the tide. I thought. I like to watch how the comments flow.

See the previous thread.

That’s what prompted my comment…

The President of the United States…OUR president…has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. May the radical right and the sniping left pause for a moment to consider what this means for the United States and the world.

Barbara! I haven’t seen you in ages. Hi.

Not the Teabaggers have to call for the overthrow of a Nobel Prize Winner.

Next thing you know they’ll be screaming for Barabas.

“Could somebody *please* pass the whirled peas?”

I think that the comments in the previous thread are what MsMolly is reacting to.

And I must say, I agree. I’m kind of surprised and disappointed at the virulent anti-Obama atmosphere around the Lake these days.

Obama got that award because he ain’t Bush. Much as I like the slap in the face to BushCo, the deadline for nominations for that prize is two weeks after Obama took office. What’d he do in those two weeks?

Just not being Bush should qualify one for a Nobel. If it does, I wanna point out that I’M not Bush, either.

Boxturtle (Still, congrats to Barak!)

Bin Lurkin.

Barack

Good one. Is there a Nobel Prize for exceptional comments? You win.

This is often how the Nobel prize committees work, and not just with regard to the US. When they give awards to dissidents, it’s to lift up their voices and say “we stand with them.” When they give awards to NGOs, it’s generally to say “your work is important” as opposed to “you’ve accomplished X.”

Full list of Peace Prize awards here.

(((sangemon)))

See my comment at 21.

Committee to Bush, Cheney: [NSFW, but worth the listen, if only for FZ and Vai making their guitars do things no one ever could have expected.]

And, yes, the Lard Lad will be petulant, and having a frenzy, Badwater @8.

Well, speak up, lady. If you read the last thread, you can see how sometimes it takes just one or two sane voices to encourage more.

Quote from Johnathan Capehart on MSNBC: “This is the ultimate reflection of the relief of the world that George W. Bush is no longer President of the United States.”

You’re not the only one…

I think Americans feel pride when an honor is bestowed on their President. So, the applause from the right when the USA USA lost the Olympic bid, will be amplified by the howls of “he doesn’t deserve it” and, add to that lack of patriotism, the fact that the R’s actually voted against a war spending bill – should be embarassing to the party that has always held itself up as more patriotic than the left. Of course, it is up to the Dems to make some hay out of all this nastiness.

They should have given the Nobel War prize to Bush, and the Peace prize to someone else.

Then if hope bears fruit they could give this prize to Obama at that time.

I’m kind of surprised and disappointed at the virulent anti-Obama atmosphere around the Lake these days.

There is, objectively, a lot to be disappointed about. Hope only takes you so far.

What work?

The nomination deadline was back then, but the committee didn’t make its decision until quite recently. Thus, they are able to consider much more than what was accomplished in those twelve days. The nomination deadline is simply the deadline for folks to say “Hey, we think you should consider so-and-so.”

I’m not saying that nine months of a presidency is a huge track record, mind you, only that there’s more than those twelve days to think about.

Well, I just HOPE it gives him the encouragement he needs to actually DO these things….like get US OUT of Afghanistan and hang up McCrystal by his skinny thumbs.

It’s pretty amazing, when DID a sitting US president last get this thing? Was it Teddy Roosevelt?

Yes, there is an Obama witch hunt around here because people have differnt views than you do.

Thank you!

Did you read the press release?

Mr. Obama deserves recognition for his accomplishments; this award is designed to encourage him to achieve them and a thank you for not continuing his predecessor’s unstinting efforts to poke the international community (and his own people) in the eye.

Restraint and the rule of law are the lubricants that prevent society’s frictions from burning it up. Mr. Bush notoriously abandoned them, driving American foreign policy as his drunken teenage self drove his car.

Mr. Obama has reveled in some of that abandonment, especially in his attempts to keep some of the extreme executive powers Mr. Cheney claimed for the president. In other ways, he has reverted to a pre-Bush acceptance that we are on this planet together, with nowhere else to go, and that we’d better make the best of it.

The jury of history remains out on whether Mr. Obama will turn his rhetoric into action. This award is the Nobel jury’s hope that he will, while he still has time to do so. Neither we nor the world can afford his failure to do it.

Aw, thanks, demi!

Never.

Wilson won in 1919, after he left office, and Carter won in 2002.

D’oh!

Boxturtle (Proofread before posting. Spellcheck is not omnipotent)

Is this part of a trend of dumbing down everything. No one fails? Obama gets a gold star for attendance?

I don’t expect it to let up any time soon.

I am glad for him, I think he deserves it and can do much more. He inspires with his words, but he can inspire much more with his actions. We are waiting for a little more action. But, it is a great thing and I am proud of him. Coming right after the lose of the 2016 Olympics, the right will have to change tracks on how it blasts Obama. I truly believe that the main reason Chicago didn’t get the olympics, after the whole no Olympics in southern hemisphere, is because of the American image, tarnished by the previous administration. Only reason why Chicago was booted in the first round.

So Pres. Obama winning the Nobel is a wonderful boost. But you know, the right will use that as proof that he is trying to dissolve the U.S. into a one world order. Never mind the whole thing about international cooperation being necessary to get along these days.

Holy crap! I just read the comments in the previous thread. You know what? It’s almost impossible to distinguish the voices of the radical right from the vicious left. And so the circle is unbroken. Ick. Just ick.

The operative word(s), IMHO, is “witch hunt.”

In modern terminology ‘witch-hunt’ has acquired usage referring to the act of seeking and persecuting any perceived enemy, particularly when the search is conducted using extreme measures and with little regard to actual guilt or innocence.

Wiki

Instant gratification takes too long?

I think my term was “blech.” LOL

my comment from the previous thread

“Obama’s attempts to open a dialogue with our so called enemies goes far beyond anything the GOP ever did.
The best they could do was label our enemies as evil doers ,and then shun them !
I think a lot of people don’t understand Obama’s approach , when he speaks in or to a foreign nation he is not speaking to the leaders, he is speaking to the people , the man on the street. He has inspired people and given them hope for a better future.
Our President understands that change sometimes has to start at the bottom, with the people. History has shown this again and again,when people have had enough they will make the changes they want.

Yeah, true enough.

Still, I have a hard time putting the President of The United States into the repressed dissident catagory.

Boxturtle (If they wanted a repressed dissident, they should have picked Sen. Feingold!)

It would take an act of God to enlighten someone who said “So, he joins the ranks of Henry Kissinger. Nice. I think the Taliban are more deserving.” in the previous thread. But, go for it. *g*

Al Jazeera is playing up the irony that the Nobel Prize is being granted to him the day he was going to make a statement about troop deployments in Afghanistan.

*stands on chair clapping*

Can’t be Frank…too many anachronisms in the lyrics. But yes, it will be fun to watch the reax today and great guitar. Is it really Vai?

Sorry, not so. Here’s the list.

Well as a member of Veterans For Peace, I have one too. As member of the 1997 Nobel-Peace Prize winning Coalition to Ban the Sale and Use of Landmines.

I should start wearing a facsimile.

Chimpie does get the Prize for Most Vacation Days Ever.

To paraphrase Keynes, in the long run every administration is dead.
We’re 8 months in, and the 2010 and 2012 clocks are ticking.

I am not criticizing the Prize. It’s great as a symbol, and an encouragement.
I am just sad that so little of what many of us had hoped for has actually taken place.
Signing Lilly Ledbetter the first week was great. Nominating Dawn Johnsen was great.
Now for some follow-though, please.

At the drop of a hat, or in this case a Nobel prize blast, everyone develops amnesia. You’re back in campaign mode swooning again. Not necessarily you, but those who’ve been paying attention and should know better.

It would be refreshing if, just for once, the critical left could get over its faux erudite self and make a joyful noise, sufficient to drown out the noise machine on the right.

Applause is nice. Every high school theater project receives a standing ovation from the parents in the audience. Mr. Obama’s show, however, is on Broadway and the tickets cost literally an arm and a leg. Many of us find it curious that he should receive a standing ovation for a play in its first act.

The criticism of Mr. Obama’s actions is as worthy as this award for his potential. I respect the Nobel jury’s political decision to use this award to encourage Mr. Obama and Congress to match its actions with his rhetoric.

Mr. Obama has not done so over restoring the rule of law at home, over reforming health care or credibly regulating businesses deemed too big to fail. That he may yet do so, that he may engage others constructively and with respect, and that he may recognize that the most powerful tool in his arsenal is restraint, we all hope for. Well, except Mr. Cheney.

He dun gud!

OT Grayson’s latest – he deserves a prize too
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo…..an-On-Fire!

“The upside is the European community is embracing this president and saying we like the direction that he is taking this country in and it’s drastically different,” suggested Mika Brzezinski. She was quickly shot down.

“The upside is the Nobel Prize committee that has had suspect selections in the past has just befuddled a lot of people across the world,” said host Joe Scarborough.

“I predict right now that he will find a way to basically turn it down,” Time’s Mark Halperin added . “I think he is going to say, I share this with the world or whatever. I don’t think he’ll embrace this. Because there is no upside.”

“The damage is done,” Brzezinski responded.

NBC White House Correspondent Chuck Todd concurred that the prize posed problems for Obama. “You’re right, will he go to Stockholm to pick it up? What does he do with the money? You get a million dollars. You get over a million dollars for winning this.” But Todd was confident that Obama would survive the crisis. “Mark’s probably right,” he said. “He’ll figure out some way of accepting this in another form, not on his own behalf.”

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..14997.html

I just thought your comment was over the top and I don’t think people are swooning. That’s just me. We all see things differently.

It would be refreshing if, just for once, the critical left could get over its faux erudite self and make a joyful noise, sufficient to drown out the noise machine on the right.

*stands on chair clapping again!* Well put, Barbara.

(And I need to quit standing on my office chair. I’m getting pretty weird looks!!)

The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”

SOCIALMALISM!

;>)

Thanks. I never watch that show. I wonder what he will do with the money. Remember when a million dollars was a lot?

We are all aware of how powerful the forces opposing the Obama Administration are, and yet a lot of people around here seem to think that Barack Obama can take office, wave a magic wand, and everything will be all better, just like that.

Get real. Work for change. Tag, you’re it.

Honey, are you wearing a dress? Giving the guys a good show? *g*

Congress Peep on Fire!

That’s an extra 44,789 Americans who die who’s lives could be saved, and their response was to ask me for an apology.”
“To ask me for an apology?”
“That’s right. To ask ME for an apology!”
“Well, I’m telling you this; I will not apologize. I will not apologize. I will not apologize for a simple reason; America doesn’t care about your feelings. I violated no rules by pulling this report to America’s attention, I think a lot of people didn’t know about it beforehand. But America DOES care about health care in America.”
“And if you’re against it, then get out of the way. Just get out of the way. You can lead, you can follow or you can get out of the way. And I’m telling you now to get out of the way.”
“American understands that there is one party in this country that is favor of health care reform and one party that is against it, and they know why.”

its faux erudite self

Ouch.

LOL. Nope, and my 66 year old legs, pretty good in their prime, are nothing to look at now!!

“You have to remember that the world has been in a pretty dangerous phase,” Nobel committee chairman Jagland said. “And anybody who can contribute to getting the world out of this situation deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.”

Anybody who can contribute deserves a Nobel: line um’ up.

He hasn’t done anything yet.

Giving someone an award for stuff they may do is beyond preposterous.

This isn’t a left right thing, it’s a WTF were the comittee thinking thing. Would waiting a year to give it to him after he actually did something make a big difference?

EPUing my comment from below:
Anybody see the irony here? The rightwingnuts and the leftwingnuts are saying similar things, so maybe giving Obama the Peace Prize will bring the two sides together, Peace!

I was trying to think of something you snarked a while back about being progressive apparently meant never being satisfied. I thought it hit the nail on the head.

Mr. Obama will travel to pick up his prize, because its the US’ and not just his. He didn’t win it in his private capacity, but as president. The money he may donate to his favorite American and international charities. He should; he’s still in office, he may be there for years to come, and he’s a millionaire already with an assured six-figure lifetime pension and health care.

The Right criticizes Mr. O for what he does, including exist and deprive them of power. The Left criticizes him for what he has not done, including not meeting many of his campaign promises. The Nobel committee hopes that he’ll still meet them and offer others a model and guide for how to do so. We should all hope they’re right.

When I heard it on the radio I was sure it was a joke. I bet a broad majority of Iraqi widows and Afghan orphans are just convulsed with hilarity…not to mention the VIP guests at Bagram and other undisclosed locations. “Yes, we’re humming a cheerful tune as we polish the hubcaps on the global war machine”…said the spokesman for the Committee.

Next the Nobel Prize in Physics goes to Microsoft for their as yet unreleased new operating system, the Nobel Prize in Economics to Alan Greenspan for his vigilance and prompt decisive actions in protecting the integrity and stability of the world financial system, and the Nobel Prize in Medicine to Billy Tauzin for his work in slashing the cost of medicating the American public so that they can more easily support and celebrate the other choices of the Nobel Prize committee.

I only hope that this helps the world to hope that there is still hope for more hope in the future. I hope you hope so too!

Thanks. I missed TR, who *was* in office at the time he won.

Sorta like hungry ghosts.

Anybody, that is, who carries with him a nuclear football and can encourage others who have or want one not to use theirs. That’s a short line.

Everbody remember to vote for Jane.

This should sour the right on the word “peace” and the Nobel committee… They’ll have to start astroturfing everybody from Gandhi to Mother Teresa now.

It will take about a day until the neocons are wanting to bomb Oslo.

Thank you. I just did.

You obviously didn’t listen to the song, especially the chorus.

Thanks for the heads up. I went. I voted.

This was fun. We haven’t had a good pie fight in a long time. Least not while I was in the room.

You might want to check out the opt-out thread from last night.

link

I have found that if I “know” someone, I can be much more understanding of a harsh critical comment than if I “don’t know” them. The difference between thinking “what an a**hole” or “wow, she sure got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Anyone else think the same way?

                                                     I guess this top’s Bush’s Perch

The Nobel Committee has always voted its hopes.

Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 (check out his foreign affairs history) was awarded the prize for referring a the first case to the International Court at the Hague–arbitrating the Russo-Japanese War.

Woodrow Wilson (check his foreign affairs history) in 1919 for founding the League of Nations, which the US failed to join.

Jane Addams in 1931 for establishing the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom

Emily Green Balch in 1946 for being President of the Women International League for Peace and Freedom

Ralph Bunche in 1950 for being a mediator in Palestine in 1948

Dr. Martin Luther King in 1964, before any of the landmark civil rights legislation was passed

International Labor Organization in 1969

Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho in 1973 (who refused it) in 1973 for the “ceasefire in the Vietnam War and the withdrawal of American forces”; I’m sure the rightwing loves that award to their neo-conservative hero two years before the fall of Saigon. President Obama take note.

Betty William and Mairead Corrigan in 1976 for founding of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement, 22 years before the Mitchell accords

Lech Walesa in 1983, in the midst of the strike in Gdansk

Desmond Tutu in 1984, 5 years before the end of apartheid

Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, 3 years before the end of the Soviet Union

Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Perez, and Yasser Arafat in 1994, for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East; we’re still waiting

And later when agreements actually are concluded, they award the generally different people involved in those agreements.

Thank whoever, they had the good sense not to award the prize to Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler.

Thinking about it more I do see some of the logic in awarding him the prize for his approach to diplomacy. Though I am not sure if the body of work adds up this award.

Standards are pretty low if being willing to talk gets you the Peace Prize, perhaps that is where the world is. As I said before there is no doubt the wind is changed from Bush’s huffing and puffing.

I will not be able to get over the other side of the balance sheet or turn a blind eye to it – which is the wars, size of military (since that money could save peoples lives), spying, drones, “smart” bombs, forever prisions, etc.

I do not see this as a 2-dimensional thing where people who are puzzled by this are somehow close to the nuts that will spin this as the Rapture or whatever sick fantasy they are under.

Demi 88: I like that line, sometimes it is good to have a wild pie fight. One thing is clear – the award has struck a nerve.

You betcha!!!

OK I just woke up. Is this serious or have the Onion people seized FDL?

Its for real, when I heard it I though..well there are lots of awards maybe this is not the Peace prize.

Gotta see what Jack Beady has to say On Point. He has an interesting way of looking various issues.

the rethug talking points kinda read like the Onion these days…

About standards for the Nobel Peace prize:

Ever heard of the International Peace Bureau. They got a lot of the awards before World War I.

It’s good for America. Isn’t that the bottom line?

It makes no difference to any of us, really, on a day to day basis, who wins this “Prize”, or even that there is such a prize.

But it’s good for our country, for all of us collectively, when something like this happens. Have any of you been abroad during the past decade? Have you felt what it’s like to be traveling abroad as an American during the Bush Era? Have you ever had to apologize to someone from elsewhere for the behavior of your countrymen?

This is good for America, and I love my country, so I am happy that it has happened. And it may make it easier to work on all the other things that we have not yet solved as well.

And, not just here or elsewhere in my little world, but doesn’t that philosophy show why we need to have the open door policy of diplomacy so that we can actually see everyone on the planet as All God’s Children? And, how that we can be understanding of each others differences?

Jack Beady On Point (parapharase):
———-
a vote for possiblity and hope, and the redemitive power of words (all we have from this man so far), yet the words have inspired much of the world…

This nobel prize sort of converts that and makes it offical

It has all sorts of impact on the conduct of the POTUS going forward (troop increases, war with Iran, in the Middle East).

—

others on the show “its a prize for US voters for voting for Obama”….

—
Not sure an award from some intellects and or rich folks is going to make the POTUS do something – I would hope that the flattery of an award does not change his mind (though I hope he has a mind of peace and for the poeple).

(singing) Getting to know you, Getting to know all about you. Getting to like you, Hoping that you like me…

93 year old women call-in:

I thought the world was following the same pattern of depression and war. Obama has given me hope and I will die happy.

(We are going to have to live through what happens though)

Yeah I did and I like it, I just think it’s a knockoff.

another caller:

People should not get the award for “not being George W Bush”

Stay klassy, MC Steele.

When I heard it on the radio I was sure it was a joke. I bet a broad majority of Iraqi widows and Afghan orphans are just convulsed with hilarity…not to mention the VIP guests at Bagram and other undisclosed locations.

I was sure it was a joke, too. I thought that The Onion was behind the headline. And for the same reasons you mention–continuing occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’d also go a step further with the continuing assault on the civil liberties of U.S. citizens as a non-peaceful endeavor.

Sure, give him the prize AFTER he has truly done something, but to award him this without substance really flies in the face of those out there working towards peace day in and day out.

Kissinger won the damn thing too.

Wakin up huh?

I just don’t understand why we can’t separate criticism of Obama with feeling proud and honored that our country and our President were selected for this award. I have plenty of problems with some of the things he’s done too, but I can still feel glad about a moment like this. I feel like some people around here simply need Obama to be their enemy, full stop, and I don’t feel like that’s a productive perspective. Because then no matter what he does, good or bad, we’ll always need to find fault with it.

Obama may yet disappoint or prove himself unworthy of this honor. But for today I’m proud of my country and the person we elected, and after the past eight years, that feels pretty damn good to be able to say.

It’s probably important to view this prize from a foreign/international perspective. The US was, in many quarters, really starting to be seen, by 2005 or so, up to the end of the shrub thugocracy, as a bellicose and thuggish threat to world peace. It wasn’t just that we were seen to have a bad president but that we were seen to be a threat to world peace – a country led and represented by corrupt profiteers, racist and xenophobic war mongers and irrational theocrats with 3600 nuclear warheads and the most powerful military machine the world had ever seen. Even if Obama has done little in real terms to change the facts behind this presentation, he has transformed the presentation itself. People no longer think the worst of us, and our president, far from being thought about as the Texas Mugabe, commands high-70s approval ratings around the world. One case in point is the Chinese street.

Chinese primary schools now teach English by asking students to recite Obama’s speeches (even as they no longer do that with those of their own leaders) and Obama is outpolling the most popular of their own leaders in their own country with a 20 point margin, in a country where saying so to a pollster might just run the risk of getting you into trouble with the authorities. Whether we like it or not, that’s unimaginable change.

We may think that the president has not lived up to this billing domestically, but most foreigners can care less about what promises he may have made and possibly broke about US healthcare reform or domestic surveillance policies. They look at the big picture because they have to, and it’s at that scale that Obama has changed the global mood, by embracing dialogue, multipartisanship and the view that the US is a partner to the world community and not an empire to dominate it mind, body and soul. It’s impossible to evaluate this independently of the presentation of Obama’s predecessor regime.

See? If I didn’t know and love Eureka, I’d be putting him in the same category as alank.

Obviously they don’t do drug testing over at Nobel HQ.

Thanksgiving in Canada is this coming weekend. There will be many interesting discussions about this Nobel Peace Prize.

Congratulations, President Obama … may you follow through on your ideas that garnered this award.

Barbara !

This award obviously means that Bush’s policies have made America the envy of the World ! /s

He’s already made more progress with Iran than Bush ever did. And it sounds like he’s preparing to actually negotiate with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Furthermore, the Iraq pullout is actually going to occur in a nice, sane fashion — the troops will come home gradually, and not hit the job market all at once, as Iraq’s security keeps improving.

The nitwits in bizarro world over at the Corner are planning on creating a Lebon War Prize that they will promptly award to George W. Bush and John Bolton.

-G

Alfred Nobel who started the Nobel prize may have been feeling guilty about dynomite despite its good uses. Can’t you you just imagine the guys who invented cluster and white phosporous bombs having guilt feelings.

I look forward to hearing from President “I don’t oppose all wars” Obama that no more troops will be sent to Afghanistan and that the war has been deemed a failure and will be stopped.

What a joke.

On Point caller:
- Obama has renewed in a speech (talking) the Bush Doctrine (pre-emptive war).

another On Point caller:
- this is an endorsement of his future speech, that this is a guy you should listen to

demi, By now we of all people should know his words mean next to nothing.

Three words

Afghanistan
Iraq
Palestine

In truth his Cairo speech was a promise to make Afghanistan worse.

The man is protecting the Bush Cheney era war criminals as if they were his own children.

He not even aiming for peace in his actions.

He’s already done a lot more with Iran than Bush ever could. Not to mention Russia — Obama’s dropping the asinine Star Wars rehash that Bush set up for Eastern Europe has made Russia a lot more willing to assist in persuading Iran to behave.

BO joins other American winners of the prize, like Henry Kissinger in 1973…

Do you stuff your turkey with poutine?

-G

Or the H-bomb.

He’s already done a lot more with Iran than Bush ever could. Not to mention Russia — Obama’s dropping the asinine Star Wars rehash in Poland that Bush set up for Eastern Europe has made Russia a lot more willing to assist in persuading Iran to behave. (And Russia’s dropped its plans to place a ton of forces on the Polish border as a result.)

See Phoenix Woman’s #116. Your mileage does vary. And, that’s alright with me.

If folk here want to learn about the Nobel Peace Prize, I would suggest that you google Irwin Abrams, and select the first google selection.

Professor Abrams (Retired Antioch College Emeritus History Professor) has written several books, and a number of essays as well as edited collections of Nobel Lectures — and they are maintained at his sites on line. Irwin Abrams was part of the party representing the American Friends Service Committee, which along with the British Friends won the Nobel Award in 1947 for their work in postwar Europe, and since that time he has been involved with the Nobel Committee. The Nobel Committee has always looked toward former awardees for nominations and assistance with documenting the accomplishments of nominees, and I would not be all that surprised if Dr. Abrams was not involved in collecting documentation for the Barack Obama award. He was deeply involved in the Jimmy Carter nomination, and in fact has edited a collection of essays with Carter about the award and the Laureates. I believe he was also involved with the Gore nomination.

He was my History Professor in Undergraduate School — and he is in his mid 90’s and tiz said, as sharp as ever.

I am personally delighted with the award. I can understand why some who are on the leftie progressive side are disappointed that Obama has not solved all the world’s problems in the first nine months to their satisfaction, but both conflict resolution and reforming institutions is best done by really confronting the details of dysfunctional institutions and the roots of conflict, and finding solutions that likely will be lasting. True, many of the matters Obama is addressing have yet to fruitify, but he has spent nine months spinning them up and getting people engaged — and I suspect gradually one after another they will come to resolution.

Many of the Nobel Awards were given for efforts in progress. In 1947 the Quakers were just a year into trying to figure out the DP Crisis in the wake of World War II, and what to do about it. The award focused attention on what they were attempting, not what had been accomplished. When Dr. King won the award in 1964 he had to come home and lead the Selma march for the Voters Rights Bill. South Africa has still not totally sorted out the damage of generations of Apartheid — but Mandela was establishing an approach to addressing all the issues, without a bloody civil war. So read up on previous Laureates, read the essays about their work, read their Nobel Lectures.

Obama’s already done a lot more with Iran than Bush ever could.

And take a look at Russia — Obama’s dropping the asinine Star Wars rehash in Poland that Bush set up for Eastern Europe has made Russia a lot more willing to assist in persuading Iran to behave WRT nukes. (And Russia’s dropped its plans to place a ton of forces on the Polish border as a result.)

Exactly.

And as I will keep saying until it sinks in:

He’s already done a lot more with Iran than Bush ever could. Not to mention Russia — Obama’s dropping the asinine Star Wars rehash in Poland that Bush set up for Eastern Europe has made Russia a lot more willing to assist in persuading Iran to behave. (And Russia’s dropped its plans to place a ton of forces on the Polish border as a result.)

On the other hand, the more I think about this award the less I agree with it. Voting hopes not withstanding, the award absolutely should be about past actions or at the very least clear intentions about future actions. Obama’s most recent decision to avoid a confrontation with China and therefore choosing to not meet with the Dali Lama is as good an indicator as any to pick. If that seems unfair because we cannot be sure of motivations, then perhaps the failure to draw down in either Iraq or Afghanistan should be considered. Or perhaps on the home front his willingness to protect the taxpayers from the fraud and deceit in Wall Street. On all fronts, except rhetoric there is precious little to be impressed by and actions are much louder.

In any event the award must be considered not, in light of potential things Obama did since February but in response to things he did before taking office. An alternative is to believe that they were able to divine his future actions based upon speeches he gave while running for President. If that is the case, then they clearly heard more promises and conviction than others were able to determine.

My sense is that they selected him because of his rhetoric, his skin tone and his unique place in history rather than his deeds. Where TarheelDem argues that the committee votes it’s hopes, I see deeds that have not met their ultimate conclusion. If there are actual acts of personal conviction that have lead to standout results on the world stage. Issues where Obama has lead the way in a way comparable to what Carter did as President, they seem subtle to put it mildly.

Sara, may I quote this for my Saturday morning post tomorrow?

Negotiation with the Taliban:

- so what do you think will you stop blowing up 1000 year old statues?
No
- will you stop women from being stoned to death for being raped?
No
- will you let us build an oil pipeline?
No
- Can you establish a monopoly on violence in most of the country?
Maybe

…OK, thanks for the great talk

Yes, I am messing around a bit – but only a bit.

See Sara @ 128. Also, note that he’s already done a lot more with Iran than Bush ever could. And check out Russia — Obama’s dropping the asinine Star Wars rehash in Poland that Bush set up for Eastern Europe has made Russia a lot more willing to assist in persuading Iran to behave. (And Russia’s dropped its plans to place a ton of forces on the Polish border as a result, which is a very good thing.)

Sinks in where? No one is changing their mind left, right or center. It’s the same old shit over and over and over.

Gosh PW, reading your posts gives me a sense of dejavu. *g*

If PO increases the war in Afghanistan, does he have to give the Nobel back?

This may be the best prophylactic move that can be made.

I think much of the dissapointment may stem from the fear that (a bit for me at least):

- all the people get is words and hope

This is only natural given what is happening domestically (looking at Health Care reform unfold and what the money/power gets versus what hte people “get”).

Okay, I just changed my mind. Pie fights are not fun.

And reactions from the peanut gallery:

Redstate, racist as usual: “Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize: He’s Becoming Jimmy Carter Faster Than Jimmy Carter Did.” Posted by Erick Erickson (Profile), Friday, October 9th at 8:22AM EDT , ‘I did not realize the Nobel Peace Prize had an affirmative action quota for it…’

Freepers: “Obama Opposed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and Won The Nobel Peace Prize”

Drudge is sayin’ he should turn it down.

Fox News is sayin’ that this is a consolation prize for losing the Olympics (really).

Strangely, Newsmax has refrained so far from any fireworks, other than rolling on Gaffney to say that this is probably premature. That being said, they were too busy running headlines like “Glenn Beck Recruiting, Needs You!” and “How to get Free Copies of Sarah Palin’s Book” (seriously).

So, we’re withdrawing from Afghanistan? I must have missed that.

Nobel Schmobel – here’s the real headline of the day:

MAN SPEAKS TRUTH IN CONGRESS

http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..an-On-Fire!

yea but OUR peanut gallery is better. . .right?

Excellent! First comment is a STFU. Yay!

Ah, you mean we should do what Osama wants us to do and stay there until our economy collapses just as the Soviet economy collapsed under the strain of their occupation of the country?

From November of 2004:

Some people find it hard to believe that Bin Laden can even imagine that he will defeat the United States, much less that he has a plan to do so. But he believes in miracles, and he began his military career by participating in the defeat of the once-mighty Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden has been very clear about his strategy, which depends on the same principles that won the Soviet/Afghan War. In his taped message of October, 2004 he said (according to an al-Jazeera translation):

All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaida, in order to make the generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving for it anything of note other than some benefits for their private companies.

This is in addition to our having experience in using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers, as we, alongside the mujahidin, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat. All Praise is due to Allah. So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah.

In other words, he wants to draw the well paid, lavishly supplied American soldiers into wars on his territory, where he can fight cheaply. The more American troops he can attract, the more expensive the war will be, until even the economy of the United States can no longer support it.

This idea is not new. Abu-Ubayd al-Qurashi wrote in Al-Ansar in December 2002 that Al Qaeda would imitate the Vietnamese strategy of attacking the “center of gravity” of the United States. Then, the center of gravity was American popular opinion, so the real Vietnam War was fought on television. But things have changed:

A conviction has formed among the mujahedin that American public opinion is not the center of gravity in America. … This time it is clearly apparent that the American economy is the American center of gravity. … Supporting this penetrating strategic view is that the Disunited States of America are a mixture of nationalities, ethnic groups, and races united only by the “American Dream” or, to put it more correctly, the worship of the dollar, which they openly call “the Almighty Dollar.”

Currently, the Iraq and Afghan Wars together are costing the US something like $60-80 billion a year. That’s a nasty load and is one reason why our national debt is sky-rocketing, but it is still within the long-term carrying capacity of the American economy. However, this level of effort is not getting the job done in either country. More American troops and American money will ultimately be needed, particularly if Bin Laden can continue to strip away our allies. If he really wants to destroy the American economy, though, Bin Laden must widen the war into additional Middle Eastern countries.

/s?

Glenn Greenwald has weighed in on Obama’s peace prize: http://letters.salon.com/opini…..obama/new/

People keep brining up MLK, I do not get it. He was doing what he was doing – peacful protest against racists and the rich & powerful.

Obama is getting the award for being willing to talk to people (with “all options on the table” including pre-emptive war). And he is the POTUS, thus has his hands on actual levers of power.

Now if pre-emptive war is needed is a differnet debate, but in the context of peace its not typically looked at in the plus column.

MLK, some actual facts on what he DID.

http://www.lib.lsu.edu/hum/mlk/srs216.html

1929
Born on at noon on January 15, 1929.
Parents: The Reverend and Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr.
Home: 501 Auburn Avenue, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia.

1944
Graduated from Booker T. Washington High School and was admitted to Morehouse College at age 15.

1948
Graduates from Morehouse College and enters Crozer Theological Seminary.
Ordained to the Baptist ministry, February 25, 1948, at age 19.

1951
Enters Boston University for graduate studies.

1953
Marries Coretta Scott and settles in Montgomery, Alabama.

1955
Received Doctorate of Philosophy in Systematic Theology from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts on June 5, 1955.
Dissertation Title: A Comparison of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Wiseman.

Joins the bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1. On December 5, he is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, making him the official spokesman for the boycott.

1956
On November 13, the Supreme Court rules that bus segregation is illegal, ensuring victory for the boycott.

1957
King forms the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight segregation and achieve civil rights. On May 17, Dr. King speaks to a crowd of 15,000 in Washington, D.C.

1958
The U.S. Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since reconstruction. King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom, is published.

On a speaking tour, Martin Luther King, Jr. is nearly killed when stabbed by an assailant in Harlem. Met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Grange on problems affecting black Americans.

1959
Visited India to study Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.

Resigns from pastoring the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church to concentrate on civil rights full time. He moved to Atlanta to direct the activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

1960
Becomes co-pastor with his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lunch counter sit-ins began in Greensboro, North Carolina. In Atlanta, King is arrested during a sit-in waiting to be served at a restaurant. He is sentenced to four months in jail, but after intervention by John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, he is released.

Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee founded to coordinate protests at Shaw University, Raleigh, North Carolina.

1961
In November, the Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate travel due to work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders.

Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) began first Freedom Ride through the South, in a Greyhound bus, after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in interstate transportation.

1962
During the unsuccessful Albany, Georgia movement, King is arrested on July 27 and jailed.

1963
On Good Friday, April 12, King is arrested with Ralph Abernathy by Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor for demonstrating without a permit.

On April 13, the Birmingham campaign is launched. This would prove to be the turning point in the war to end segregation in the South.

During the eleven days he spent in jail, MLK writes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail

On May 10, the Birmingham agreement is announced. The stores, restaurants, and schools will be desegregated, hiring of blacks implemented, and charges dropped.

On June 23, MLK leads 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit.

The March on Washington held August 28 is the largest civil rights demonstration in history with nearly 250,000 people in attendance.

At the march, King makes his famous I Have a Dream speech.

On November 22, President Kennedy is assassinated.

1964
On January 3, King appears on the cover of Time magazine as its Man of the Year.

King attends the signing ceremony of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the White House on July 2.

During the summer, King experiences his first hurtful rejection by black people when he is stoned by Black Muslims in Harlem.

King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. Dr. King is the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Peace at age 35.

I offer as an extreme example of that recent events in a red county in SE NC:

TWO!!! people (a husband and wife) were responsible for ginning up a tremendous stench about not allowing school kids to listen to the Obama’s education speech. Were it not for some excellent reporting by a small-town local newspaper (may their tribes increase!), few of us holding opposing opinions would have realized what actually happened. Here’s a brief snippet:

The Brunswick County school district has met The State Port Pilot’s request for e-mails between board of education members during the days leading up to, and following, their action to postpone airing President Barack obama’s speech to students.

The request, which was fulfilled Friday, reveals that despite claims of being bombarded with e-mails from concerned parents, board members only received three e-mails at their district addresses that were critical of Obama’s speech to the nation’s schoolchildren.

That quote hand-typed so no handy linky but the hubby is a county commissioner and the wife a school board member. Will be interesting to see if either of them continue to hold those positions in the future……I’ll be working to insure that *don’t* happen.

Powerful words:

I want to remind us all that Olympia Snowe was not elected President last year. Olympia Snowe has no veto power in the Senate. Olympia Snowe represents a state with one half of one percent of America’s population.”

“What America wants is health care reform. America doesn’t care if it gets 51 votes in the Senate or 60 votes in the Senate …

Let’s hope they deliver the Nobel Peace Prize with a Predator Drone.

“Sara, may I quote this for my Saturday morning post tomorrow?”

Yes — but please please direct people to the work of Irwin Abrams. He really is the American Expert on the Nobel Peace Prize — no one else comes close.

I read the statements ( and again, and again :-) ) but don’t find the two areas you mention to very convincing as proof of leadership toward peace.

The Russians, as is often the case make strong statements in order to compromise back to their intended goal. In the case of Iran, they want to be the intermediary because of geopolitical control regarding the Caspian Sea. If Obama were leading the way to reduced tensions with Iran he would be using diplomats instead of the bully pulpit.

Please tell me you’re joking…

I actually listened to some of that shit in real time……..berrrrrrrrrrgggggh!

This is uncalled for and over the top. I’m sorry. You should withdraw your comment. We’re not Republicans. We don’t joke about violence against our elected leaders.

Right on!

the award absolutely should be about past actions or at the very least clear intentions about future actions.

If you look at the awards, they are sometimes about one single action. In this case, my reading is that the action that brought forward the award was the building of a world consensus on nonproliferation of nuclear weapons that can diplomatically make attacks on Iran and North Korea less likely and will eventually bring the foreign policies of those countries into more dialog. Obama’s intentions on nonproliferation of weapons is very clear. He is negotiating a greater build-down with Russia. He is asking other nations to forgo nuclear programs. He is asking nations with nuclear weapons to start considering a build-down and to ensure the security of their nuclear materials through strong management techniques supervised by the IAEA. The unanimous vote in the Security Council was not easily achieved and not symbolic.

That is the accomplishment that provided the hope that the Nobel committee voted for. And they said so in their press release.

Lambert: See Sara @ 126.

Also: We’ve cancelled the Polish Star Wars silliness, which has a) got Russia to cancel its plan to dump military forces on the Polish border and b) got Russia to work with the US on dealing with Iran’s nuclear aspirations. And Obama has been quietly looking at negotiations with the Taliban, and accepting the same reality the Russians were forced to accept.

But of course Hillary would have done so much better. Oh, wait, Hillary and Gates are the ones pushing for MORE troops in Afghanistan while Obama favors holding the line and looking at an eventual drawdown.

My implied criticism wasn’t directed at Obama but at the Nobel committee’s decision making process. Being associated with a war criminal like Kissinger is not exactly a badge of honor.

No commnet when I am put into a sentance with Osama bin Laden by you (as Rove did to Max).

As we see from this Nobel Prize, words do matter.

If anything.. it’s Iran who has done more with Obama then they ever would or could have done with Bushco.

Which is amazing on Iran’s part considering Obama has them surrounded (like Bushco) on two borders. ANd drones into Pakistan (a friend). /s

Obama is a man of peace a surely as a scratch off lottery ticket winner is brilliant mathematician.

If you step away from torture, war, war criminals guaranteed protection, continued insane levels of defense spending… look at what he’s doing with things like the Patriot Act… actions which will likely haunt us in violent oppressive ways for many many years to come (even if it takes a decade or three to spark). The loss of liberty is perhaps second in threat level only to something like a major depression or famine.

Look at what he’s done in courts on any number of things in defense of and determination to contine the most egregious Bush policies.

As soon as Obama quits using predator drones to bomb civilians in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan, antagonizing the populations into supporting more asymmetrical warfare against US civilians, then I’ll retract my statement that a pilotless aircraft drop the Nobel Peace Prize, gold medal and cash, on the White House.

How peaceful is it to scrimp on health care because it would bust the budget and increase the deficit when he just approved a military budget which will add almost $700b to the deficit?

If Obama were leading the way to reduced tensions with Iran he would be using diplomats instead of the bully pulpit.

Unfortunately for Obama, the best diplomats are the ones you don’t see performing their best work. There is a reason that Russia wants to negotiate a further build-down of nuclear weapons when it wouldn’t give the time of day to George W. Bush.

And the October 1 opening talks with Iran were more successful than the public statements and posturing indicated. How do I know this? Iran wants to continue them and even make them regular and long-term.

You might not, but Juan Cole does:

President Obama is slowly putting Iran in a box. His cancellation of the useless and expensive so-called missile shield program in Eastern Europe, which had needlessly antagonized Russia, has been rewarded with greater Russian cooperativeness on Iran. The U.S. right wing accused Obama of a failure of nerve. But in fact his move was shrewd and gutsy, since he predisposed Russia to increased cooperation with the U.S. in regard to Iran’s nuclear research program. Obama’s full-court press for a United Nations Security Council resolution on nuclear disarmament also pulled the rug out from under Iran’s previous grandstanding tactics, whereby it accused the U.S. and its allies of only wanting nuclear dominance, not the abolition of nukes.

Obama chaired the U.N. Security Council at the summit level on Thursday, and managed to get through an important resolution on nuclear disarmament. 

But of course Obama is pure evil, so this doesn’t count.

you’re out of line. where are the mods?

War Criminal Henry Kissinger is the biggest stain on the Nobel Prize. He was awarded for ending the war he worked to encourage and prolong. When did Kissinger overthrow Chile’s President Allende? Was it before or after the Nobel?

I sure hope Obama ends the Bush Wars, but I don’t see anything to indicate that. I wish Obama, Hillary, et al would stop the bombastic, pig-ignorant neocon rhetoric w/r/t Iran, but I don’t see that ending either.

Anything could happen. The Nobel Prize will not matter.

?
But Obama is a new guy at the top, many of those things are not going to go away (war profit, war, etc).

On someone else’s point: As for going gaga over Obama getting the award as a great thing for the US. No sure, its just an ara

I don’t think the award means anything tangible US or the world. The point of the award is to reward people, promote peace, and dialog. The award provides is a conversation (which is great).

This award will not save lives, or make “others” think better of the US (though it may reflect this feeling or some people).

In fact for those looking at a global world it could look cruel that their family is bombed, or in jail with no trial, or recovering from torture (under Bush, but its the US), or a war refugee, or someone under embargo – at the same time as he gets this award. Even that is a reach though, its just a cool piece of news.

OK, my mind is running in circles now so I am going to shut up.

So you mean you want to negotite with the Taliban and put them back in power so we can turn the clock back 8 years, and so more planes come toward the USA?

Ooops, I just put words in your mouth as you did with me. I hope I am not mean, I am sure not imply anything about terrorism on you, and I am sure you did not put me into a sentance with Osama bin Laden (thanks, I think Rove invented that one).

To me it is a problem beyond my understanding – but we are there and we broke it very badly. Let’s say we went into Sudan and got bogged down there – would we negotiate to bring them back into the fold? Perhaps, but it will be called

In this context, I am not sure negotating with and putting the “good” Taliban back in power is a Peace Prize thing so much as a lost the war thing.

1955
Joins the bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1. On December 5, he is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, making him the official spokesman for the boycott.
1956
On November 13, the Supreme Court rules that bus segregation is illegal, ensuring victory for the boycott.
1957
King forms the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight segregation and achieve civil rights. On May 17, Dr. King speaks to a crowd of 15,000 in Washington, D.C.
1958
The U.S. Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since reconstruction. King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom, is published.
On a speaking tour, Martin Luther King, Jr. is nearly killed when stabbed by an assailant in Harlem. Met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Grange on problems affecting black Americans.
1959
Visited India to study Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.
1960
Lunch counter sit-ins began in Greensboro, North Carolina. In Atlanta, King is arrested during a sit-in waiting to be served at a restaurant. He is sentenced to four months in jail, but after intervention by John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, he is released.
1961
In November, the Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate travel due to work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders.
Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) began first Freedom Ride through the South, in a Greyhound bus, after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in interstate transportation.
1962
During the unsuccessful Albany, Georgia movement, King is arrested on July 27 and jailed.
1963
On Good Friday, April 12, King is arrested with Ralph Abernathy by Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor for demonstrating without a permit.
On April 13, the Birmingham campaign is launched. This would prove to be the turning point in the war to end segregation in the South.
During the eleven days he spent in jail, MLK writes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail
On May 10, the Birmingham agreement is announced. The stores, restaurants, and schools will be desegregated, hiring of blacks implemented, and charges dropped.
On June 23, MLK leads 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit.
The March on Washington held August 28 is the largest civil rights demonstration in history with nearly 250,000 people in attendance.
At the march, King makes his famous I Have a Dream speech.
On November 22, President Kennedy is assassinated.
1964
King attends the signing ceremony of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the White House on July 2.
During the summer, King experiences his first hurtful rejection by black people when he is stoned by Black Muslims in Harlem.
King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. Dr. King is the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Peace at age 35.

Sara 128: The award focused attention on what they were attempting, not what had been accomplished. When Dr. King won the award in 1964 he had to come home and lead the Selma march for the Voters Rights Bill

Again, I see everyone brining up MLK and saying he did not do anything before his award, someone even said no major civil rights laws had been passed. Please do not compare MLK and his drive for Peace with 2009 since its not true.

MLK said it, and then DID IT.

I trimmed down the post from above to focus on what he did and what laws were passed:

1955
Joins the bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested on December 1. On December 5, he is elected president of the Montgomery Improvement Association, making him the official spokesman for the boycott.

1956
On November 13, the Supreme Court rules that bus segregation is illegal, ensuring victory for the boycott.

1957
King forms the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to fight segregation and achieve civil rights. On May 17, Dr. King speaks to a crowd of 15,000 in Washington, D.C.

1958
The U.S. Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since reconstruction. King’s first book, Stride Toward Freedom, is published.
On a speaking tour, Martin Luther King, Jr. is nearly killed when stabbed by an assailant in Harlem. Met with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, along with Roy Wilkins, A. Philip Randolph, and Lester Grange on problems affecting black Americans.

1959
Visited India to study Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.

1960
Lunch counter sit-ins began in Greensboro, North Carolina. In Atlanta, King is arrested during a sit-in waiting to be served at a restaurant. He is sentenced to four months in jail, but after intervention by John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy, he is released.

1961
In November, the Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in interstate travel due to work of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Freedom Riders.
Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) began first Freedom Ride through the South, in a Greyhound bus, after the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed segregation in interstate transportation.

1962
During the unsuccessful Albany, Georgia movement, King is arrested on July 27 and jailed.

1963
On Good Friday, April 12, King is arrested with Ralph Abernathy by Police Commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connor for demonstrating without a permit.
On April 13, the Birmingham campaign is launched. This would prove to be the turning point in the war to end segregation in the South.
During the eleven days he spent in jail, MLK writes his famous Letter from Birmingham Jail
On May 10, the Birmingham agreement is announced. The stores, restaurants, and schools will be desegregated, hiring of blacks implemented, and charges dropped.
On June 23, MLK leads 125,000 people on a Freedom Walk in Detroit.
The March on Washington held August 28 is the largest civil rights demonstration in history with nearly 250,000 people in attendance.
At the march, King makes his famous I Have a Dream speech.
On November 22, President Kennedy is assassinated.

1964
King attends the signing ceremony of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 at the White House on July 2.
During the summer, King experiences his first hurtful rejection by black people when he is stoned by Black Muslims in Harlem.
King is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10. Dr. King is the youngest person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Peace at age 35.

Here’s what Juan Cole has to say about Obama and Iran (and with a nuclear-disarmament resolution thrown in free of charge):

President Obama is slowly putting Iran in a box. His cancellation of the useless and expensive so-called missile shield program in Eastern Europe, which had needlessly antagonized Russia, has been rewarded with greater Russian cooperativeness on Iran. The U.S. right wing accused Obama of a failure of nerve. But in fact his move was shrewd and gutsy, since he predisposed Russia to increased cooperation with the U.S. in regard to Iran’s nuclear research program. Obama’s full-court press for a United Nations Security Council resolution on nuclear disarmament also pulled the rug out from under Iran’s previous grandstanding tactics, whereby it accused the U.S. and its allies of only wanting nuclear dominance, not the abolition of nukes.

Obama chaired the U.N. Security Council at the summit level on Thursday, and managed to get through an important resolution on nuclear disarmament. 

But of course, the Jerusalem Post was saying that the only reason Iran’s playing nice now is because Bibi Netanyahu went and chewed them out, but the Evil Liberal US Media’s not telling us about that. ;-)

I don’t know why some here see this merely as a reward for not being Bush or as a slap at Bush. There are a lot of lousy leaders around the world, including right here in Europe. Anyone following the Berlusconi story?

(I live in Germany and am not looking at all forward to the incoming government. I don’t want to even think about what could happen to Germany’s reputation if Guido Westerwelle is named foreign minister. The guy doesn’t have a diplomatic bone in his body. Even in a profession (politics) where arrogance seems to be a pre-requisite, he’s truly in a league of his own.)

I’m not happy with everything Obama’s doing (or not doing), and I am proud to be a part of this community, fighting for what’s right *regardless* of who is in power. But I AM happy that he got this award. And let it put some pressure on the rest of the world, too. :)

Thanks, for the post, Peterr!

If that is the case then, they should have nominated him next year. This is a yearly prize and should reflect past deeds not future expectations which they could not have predicted in February. More critically on the actual issue, this is not the first time public officials around the world have called for nuclear drawdowns which in turn have met with precious little change. One might cynically argue that since the US has more weapons than anyone else including the Russians we can afford to be generous, so long as everyone else is along for the ride. Countries not along for the ride include Pakistan, China, India and Israel so the issue seems moot.

Are you serious?

“1953
Marries Coretta Scott and settles in Montgomery, Alabama.”

Another reason to read Abrams stuff. Coretta was also an Antiochian, and was fairly close to Irwin Abrams and her mentor, Manmatha Nath Chatterjee. Never heard of this guy named Chatterjee??? Well, he was Gandhi’s personal representative in the US (like an ambassador) from 1928 till India became independent. Chatterjee taught the theory of non-violence as a series of seminars at Antioch for over 20 years, and Coretta was one of his valued students. Martin did not learn Gandhian Non-Violence in a Baptist Seminary — Coretta was the real expert, and when he got deep into things in Montgomery, it was Coretta who called in Baynard Rustin to teach Martin both the theology and the organizational tactics.

It was Abrams and Chatterjee who organized Martin and Coretta’s trip to India to meet all the Gandhi folk.

This is why I say, read the Abrams stuff.

This is celebration, lament and wake-up call.

Mr. Obama is not George Bush, and we have stepped back from the brink that he, and certainly a neocon successor to him, would have tipped us over. A brink we might still topple over were we to give in to calls for more troops, more suppression, and more exaggerated rhetoric that leaves no room for compromise and peace. It is a wake-up call to Americans that that’s how the world sees it. It is a hope that Obama will fulfill his promise and thanks that he has given us hope.

His domestic constituents, more in the nature of family than neighbors, have more intimate gripes with his honor, the president. We should feel no shame in expressing them or in demanding that our needs be met.

If you are responding on the issues I raised then it might be best to avoid the impression that I said Obama was pure evil. If you wish to attribute that kind of thinking to others it might be best if you describe it that way. My issues are around the committee decision timing and have yet to be convinced that a full court press against Iran in the United Nations proves the case for leadership toward peace. Your milage may vary.

I was modded once for suggesting that someone needed a head butt to the nose. I’m not kidding. It’s been my experience that some mods are more tolerant than others, tho.

Sorry, I think the mod will have to trim my huge posts, did not think it they were so big.

Hey, Pfiff!

Long time no see; hope all is well with you.

Iran was never enriching … nobody has come close to proving they had the number of centrifuges needed… not even close. And they certainly were within their rights to produce energy for themselves.

So if I make up a boogie man… and declare I’ve saved the world from them… when in fact the not boogie man… offers up everything (which amounted to no threat) of their own accord, do I get a prize?

If so.. I wouldn’t accept it.

Mr. Obama is in a unique position of power, however fleeting in the longterm, that other world leaders are not. Nor are they waging two wars in the Middle East and clamoring for a third. Mr. O remains at the confluence of power, aspiration and political reality. He has choices no one else has. The Nobel Committee urges him to make the correct ones.

I have a feeling the religious right ordered bunches of her books and will send to any one who donates to them, whether they want the book or not.

How to get Free Copies of Sarah Palin’s Book” (seriously

Nope … don’t want those Quebecers invading the place … *g*

That sounds interesting so I will try to read more later.

All great men and women have other great people around them, just like Obama has speech writters (and a militart, cabinet, VP, lawyer wife/FLOTUS, etc).

Is the president growing a mustache?

It kinda tickles me to think that her visage will be on a doorstop, on floors around the country…

LOL … Raven !

But if there is a full-court press against Iran in the United Nations against a non-existent uranium enrichment program wouldn’t another analogy be possible? Perhaps the lessons of a country on the full-court press against another Middle Eastern country for possessing Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Images of the robot in the first board meeting on RoboCop come to mind. “You have 10 seconds to put down the weapon.”

Hey, Waccamaw! How are you? I’m typing with one arm, unfortunately. Stinky shoulder problems. :( But that means Mr. Pfiff cooks dinner AND does the dishes, so I have no right to complain. *G*

Heard on MSNBC News Live this morning by the three totally useless blow-up dolls with vocal chords:
“This is just going to cause more problems for Obama..”

So girls, he shouldn’t wait for one of the anonymous bullets you’ve helped pay for when he could stop “his critics” by just shooting himself – is that what The Palin School for Brainless Witches taught you??

[Edited by Moderator: there are certain words one is not permitted to use on this site. Therefore, an edit was required.]

And one more thing..NEE-NER, NEE-NER!!

To me getting a peace prize should be about bringing peace to warring countries. Has BO done that? No! Is the war in those two countries winding down? No! Has USA lowered the amount of money spent on war? No, it was increased. So all those thoughts and good feelings about BO bring about peace does not matter to me when children, civilians and soldiers are still dieing from war because of US decission makers in the WH. Actions count, not thoughts!

This is a yearly prize and should reflect past deeds not future expectations which they could not have predicted in February.

Apparently you and the Nobel committee disagree.

About this not being the first time for disarmament: many of the early prizes went to various members of the International Peace Bureau. This was before World War I. Seen much of the International Peace Bureau lately?

And how many prizes have been awarded for peace in the Middle East. Ralph Bunche, Begin/Sadat, Rabin/Peres/Arafat… still no peace.

And listening to the war mongers does help divide this party and BO should know that and not play into their hands.

We are killing human beings every day in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq civilians, using anonymous un”man”ed drones, and that fact that we are all parties to war crimes apparently does not concern you but pointing that out in stark terms does?

Under the Nuremberg principles, we are criminally liable for war crimes committed in our name, with our dollars, unless we takes all steps to prevent them.

Sorry to hear you’re having problems with the shoulder but the ray of sunshine being you’re getting some great TLC in exchange for the misery. Off to buy some lunch that I don’t have to cook and don’t have anyone to fix for me. *g* Hope you see you again soon. *smooch*

if Henry Kissinger, indiscriminate bomber of Cambodia and Vietnam, can win the Peace Prize, then why not Obama?

He’s going to have to pick up the pace of his aerial assaults on the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan if he is going to come close to Henry’s kill count, though. Maybe the campaign they are ginning up for war against Iran will get him his first million dead.

the real loser, though, is the credibility of the Nobel committee. The writers at the Onion are slapping their heads and knocking back an extra shot of morning schnapps, saying “How can we compete with this???”

Bon Appetit!

The previous awards, including the ones you site, were base upon past deeds and that includes the effort of creating an organization that had an unequivocal goal put clear for anyone to see. This includes the defunct International Peace Bureau, which had a goal it did not meet. The current award is akin to giving the award to the IPB before it came into existence because people might agree to meet in the future. Had Obama run as a world peace candidate and been sweep into office on that mandate then the argument about the IBP might be a bit more relevant. He did not run that way and it is not a plank within his Administration, except in so far as there was a declaration to draw down in Iraq and Afghanistan. All of his current actions related to peace and relative success therein are open to interpretation except where they have been disavowed. There has been no Camp David driving the current world view in any obvious fashion. Previous to February there was nothing except words.

If words are good enough then so be it.

As I read the previous thread and comments I kept trying to recall what the world was when our POTUS was Bush43. The strong emotions returned first and then the events. I remembered the fear of our country attacking Iran was coming closer and closer to reality. The naval skirmishes with “the enemy” that turned out to be false. The reports of military incursions into Iran. I remembered how there was the ever-present fear that Bush43 would not leave office if he invaded Iran. And how day-by-day it looked like that would be happening.

Then, Barack Hussein Obama was elected POTUS and something did change.

(Disclaimer: I voted for Obama with eyes wide open.)

What exactly did change? The next World War did not happen.

Yes, POTUS Obama is a talker. And a listener, too. He is not perfect. He is a politician. His action is the kind he learned as a community organizer. Ever watch people who do the work of community organizing? It is one person at a time. It is slow, effective, and enduring. It involves those who want to participate and work together.

This is only my view and opinion, obviously.

Normally, I do not have much to say because I have so much to learn. All of you have been my teachers and for that I thank you.

Congratulations to President Obama on the Nobel Peace Prize!

Kipling’s If comes to mind:

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
….
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it….

More to the point, I suspect what the Nobel committee hopes Mr. Obama will continue to hear, once the adulation and criticism recedes, are the last words of Capt. Miller, whispered to PFC James Francis Ryan:

“James… earn this. Earn it.”

the propaganda campaign right now, citing Iran’s alleged weapons of mass destruction is very very similar to the run-up to Bush’s attack against Iraq.

You rightly mention the fear and uncertainty about Bush launching yet another attack.

But Bush also pretended to pursue diplomacy as the propaganda campaign leading up to war gained in intensity.

That seems to be the phase we are in now – after a summer lull, a huge orchestrated announcement about the Qom facility, which the CIA has known about for three years.

Obama has more suaveness than Bush, but it is not the Nobel Suaveness Prize, and awarding a ‘Peace’ prize to someone who presides over atrocities like this in Farah Province, then tries to cover them up, takes DoubleSpeak back to levels we remember from the Bush era.

That’s 95 dead children who won’t be celebrating this award.

Praising someone for the behaviour you want from them often encourages them to actually behave that way. And a Nobel *Peace* prize, it does put the man in the spotlight, no?

Troops home from Iraq, close Gitmo, universal health care, for instance, as promised.

That’s a very, very premature ejaculation on the part of the Nobel Prize Committee.

Obama has done shit for Palestine and sent in more troops (War means Peace?) into the Afghan ‘theatre’, WTF?

If this is a sign of the times, we’re so, so fucked.

Phoenix Woman:

There are some who can recognize a farce when they see it. YMMV and, apparently, does.

As far as Poland, I wasn’t aware that there was a Nobel Prize for Sanity, since that appears to be the baseline here. I also wasn’t aware that there was a Nobel Prize for “Quietly Working,” but apparently there is as well. Good to know!

May I summarize here some of the prizes that you might also encourage Obama to apply for?

1. The Cy Young Award.

2. The Grammies, for Best New Song and Congeniality

3. The Nobel Prize for Literature*

4. The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit competition

I’m sure there are others, and I’ll try to chronicle them here. No thanks necessary!

NOTE * Wait, I’m wrong. Sarah Palin already got that one for her biography.

* * *

As far as Gates and our SoS… Yeah, somebody should talk to their boss about this.

* * *

NOTE You know, I got over the primariez a long time ago. I live with the President we’ve got, and I don’t lose sleep nights worrying about whether the President’s Secretary of State would be a better President than the President. So, I find your instant resort to the false claim that I’m picturing some sort of alternative universe in speculative fiction where we had a different President mildly interesting as a defensive move and as a rhetorical stance, but I don’t find it interesting as anything more than that; I’m just not the kind of specialist who could go more deeply into such matters. Some things are farcial on their face, without comparison to anything else, and this award is one such. And IIRC, the empire wasn’t really a topic of discussion from any of the candidates in 2008, except for Ron Paul, who rightly thought it should be abolished because we can’t afford it, and it’s wrong.

PW and others are un-ironically adopting the stance implied by the Shephard Fairey “Hope” poster, adulating the Leader as he wisely gazes to the Future, not the Past.

I like that little trope about:

the troops will come home gradually, and not hit the job market all at once, as Iraq’s security keeps improving.

y’know, lots of those folks in the National Guard had jobs, and got to live with their families, not under bombardment occupying far-away, oil rich lands. Security situation??? please.

ratiocinations like this in defense of Bush’s criminal, immoral occupations now that a Democrat is driving the war machine are, frankly, disgusting, but usually I try to see the bitter humor in them first.

“not hit the job market all at once”

Lovely, and I’m pleased to see the Iraqis finally doing their part. Kidding!

Seriously, a talking point that vile (note that the same argument from jobs has also been deployed against single payer) could only be taken seriously because it’s been emitted by someone in authority: I’m guessing Rahm on those Tuesday “Same Page In The Hymnal” meetings, or whatever they’re called. Ick.

yeah, and the notion that the US military is there to improve the ’security situation’ so Iraqi kids can cross the street on the way to school is laughable, and an obvious Talking Point.

I’m getting better at spotting the regurgitated propaganda, it is kind of fun, unpacking it, and seeing how it was designed. Sometimes the fingerprints are obvious, sometimes less so.

the hard lads of the JSOTF and the mercenary armies of Blackwater, et al, fighting for Women’s Lib in Afghanistan, thats another one. What a bunch of Sensitive, New Age guys!

Even Medea Benjamin fell for it.

ach, again, those writers at the Onion are going to have to work harder to surpass this stuff.

Of course the Nobel Committee is aware that this could be quite embarrassing for them, if Obama decides to start a war somewhere. They have a strong incentive to maintain the credibility of the Prize’s reputation, because it is the fact that many people are impressed by the Nobel Peace Prize that gives them their power and influence. They definitely don’t want people holding the Prize in contempt, or saying that any Prize won by Kissinger (and Obama?) isn’t worth having. So why are they taking this potentially serious risk with the Prize’s reputation? The main purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize is to strengthen the political position and credibility of whoever receives it. So it seems to me probable that this Prize was granted out of fear. The Committee, I suspect, is afraid that Obama’s (and America’s) reputation is weak, desperately weak. So weak that it threatens Norwegean interests. So weak that they have to risk their own reputation in an attempt to shore up Obama’s credibility.

Just to be clear about the apparent change of heart. Back before the majority of Americans clearly decided that Afghanistan had to be put down, because the most of the people in on the 9/11 attack came from a country that still must not be mentioned, there were all sorts of Democrats that supported Bush. Popularity in the high 80s according to many polls obviously included a lot of Democrats. All the more so after the ever popular “shock and awe” video game show took to the air and we finally eliminated those pesky WMDs that were such a serious threat to the most expensive military on earth.

This is not a change of heart in many cases, but rather a continuation of the previous mindset. My side right or wrong. On the other side of the coin, it is certainly the case that bringing home a bunch of guys taught to be very efficient at man’s oldest team sport is not going to be without its problems.

The National Guard guys who used to have jobs before the businesses they worked for started massive layoffs are the least of the problems. They’ll keep these guys as long as possible because they represent the absolute least expensive tool for the job. All the better because they don’t get the benefits of the “real” Army much less the $200K plus benefits of the massive number of mercs from Blackwater/XE. It’s the guys who are highly skilled at house-to-house, sniping and flipping burgers who do not have XE benefits to look forward to in a era of creeping unemployment that should be disconcerting. Not an argument for maintaining the occupations but a problem none-the-less. I’d like to see many of them are hired into the financial industries perhaps with a variant bounty system. Good pay and a reasonable outlet for the aggression that might have been so recently baked in.

When we’ve got something to be joyful about, maybe that will happen. Until that hoped-for occasion, there’s no shortage at all of people willing to pick up the pom-poms…

NOTE I like “faux erudite.” Generally, it’s the right that derides pointy-headed intellectuals, but any stick to beat a dog, say I. Or any boot to kick the left, I suppose.

Quite right. People can hardly be swooning when they’re standing on chairs clapping. Let’s try to keep up, shall we?

Indeed.

While I certainly can’t write for others, it’s likely that my spelling and lack of proper proof-reading may have put me in the “faux erudite” grouping a long time ago. I wonder if I’m supposed to only speak up when I agree with the current successes or wait until the next regime takes power in order to be critical again.

Perhaps if I simply aspire to having less knowledge.

Thank you, TarheelDem. It is shocking to me that a President of the United States would be bagged by us for receiving an award of great estimatation. I think that we have understated the fear and fright by other countries of the Bush Administration. We all like to think of ourselves as being worldly, but the actual world has had its say to which I say, “Bravi.”

What do the words “diplomacy, cooperation, vision, multilateral, dialogue, initiative, constructive, hope, and values” have in common? None of them were used by international observers to describe George W. Bush – individually or collectively, but they all were used collectively to describe President Barack Obama.

This REALLY gets under the collective skin of the GOP. They are coming absolutely unglued.

Do I detect more than a hint of “trophy envy?”

I think there’s a copy editing problem with your post. Didn’t you mean to write:

What do the words “diplomacy, cooperation, vision, multilateral, dialogue, initiative, constructive, hope, and values” have in common with Afghanistan?

Just asking. Hey, if the Nobel inspires Obama to live up to the potential, I’m all for it. But let’s be clear — PW’s repeated talking points aside (”You forgot Poland!”) that this award is about, well, creating our own reality.