Controversy surrounding President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize award
continues, as numerous outlets around the world weigh in on the honor. The Times
had a very scathing review on announcement.
Barack Obama's peace prize starts a fight
October 10, 2009 - Gasps echoed through the Nobel Hall in Oslo yesterday as
Barack Obama was unveiled as the winner of the 2009 Peace Prize, sparking a
global outpouring of incredulity and praise in unequal measure...
In a clear swipe at his predecessor, George W. Bush, the committee praised
the “change in the international climate” that the President had brought,
along with his cherished goal of ridding the world of nuclear weapons.
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the
world's attention and given its people hope for a better future,” it added.
International reaction ranged from delight to disbelief. The former winners
Kofi Annan and Desmond Tutu voiced praise, the latter lauding the Nobel
Committee’s “surprising but imaginative choice”.
But Lech Walesa, the dissident turned Polish President, who won the Peace
Prize in 1983, spoke for many, declaring: “So soon? Too early. He has no
contribution so far.”
Mr Obama’s domestic critics leapt on the award as evidence of foreigners
fawning over an untested “celebrity” leader. Rush Limbaugh, the US
right-wing commentator, said: “This fully exposes the illusion that is
Barack Obama."...
“Let me be clear. I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishments
but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations
held by people in all nations," he said.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a notoriously difficult award to predict, but
yesterday's decision was clearly a political choice, with three of the past
six peace awards going to Bush adversaries...
But Bobby Muller, who won the Nobel Prize as co-founder of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines, told The Times: "I don't have the highest regard
for the thinking or process of the Nobel committee. Maybe Norway should give
it to Sweden so they can more properly handle the Peace Prize along with all
the other Nobel prizes."
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