Nobel. Devalued and weakened.

I think the prize is now a “take an award out of the bucket” now . :rolleyes::rolleyes:

The Nobel Prize was devalued years before this recent charade.

I’m amazed that people are still regarding it seriously.

Agreed…has anybody ever taken it seriously ??

Nobel Devalued and weakened

like he hasnt done anything re: israel/palestine yet even and youd think if he accomplished something there, the award would be well deserved… ive been reading general media opinions and it seems like everyone is pretty much incredulous at the awarding of the prize at this stage..

Are they doing a ‘buy now pay in 12 months’ scheme on the Nobel these days ?

I think one of the commitee members said that the award could be interpreted as “a call to action.”

I had the honor of being chosen to crew a flight from JNB to CPT back in 96 or 97 on which King Harald was a passenger. It was a memorable occasion. I am highly disappointed that B.O. turned down lunch with him. Not good for the image he is trying to portray.:(

Fair point…..it just amused me that nobody had named ‘him’ so far.

Nobody can spell Borat Osama!

The Nobel Prize was devalued years before this recent charade.

I’m amazed that people are still regarding it seriously.

Fair point…..it just amused me that nobody had named ‘him’ so far.

Maybe this Nobel Prize is really for the American People…..for voting Obama in!

P.S. Does anybody else think it is funny that until Grey Area named Obama nobody else mentioned ‘him’ by name? 😀

Come to think of it, you’re right.

Maybe the OP was referring to one of the other politicians who were awarded the Nobel Prize this year, having taken office a mere two weeks before the close of nominations?

After all, there are so many to choose from.

At the ceremony, at least he admitted that he’d done very little.

Who dresses his wife FFS! She still looks like she’s blinged up for a party in the ghetto.

At the risk of sounding non-PC, I suspect he got it for pretty much the same reason that Trevor McDonald got his Knighthood.

No, Trev. was reasding our news for what seemed 50 years. This fella is still green.

P.S. Does anybody else think it is funny that until Grey Area named Obama nobody else mentioned ‘him’ by name? 😀

No… ? 😉

Maybe this Nobel Prize is really for the American People…..for voting Obama in!

P.S. Does anybody else think it is funny that until Grey Area named Obama nobody else mentioned ‘him’ by name? 😀

Are they doing a ‘buy now pay in 12 months’ scheme on the Nobel these days ?

Embarasing:

The Daily Beast

Obama Snubs the King

by Katarina Andersson

December 9, 2009 | 1:10am

Finally some Europeans are angry with Obama—the very ones who are awarding him his Nobel. Katarina Andersson on the president’s decision to decline lunch with King Harald and skip his own Nobel exhibit.

A day before President Obama receives his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, the president’s treatment of his Norwegian hosts has become hot news across Scandinavia.

News outlets across the region are calling Obama arrogant for slashing some of the prize winners’ traditional duties from his schedule. “Everybody wants to visit the Peace Center except Obama,” sniped the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, amid reports the president would snub his own exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center. “A bit arrogant—a bit bad,” proclaimed another Aftenposten headline.

“It’s very sad,” said Nobel Peace Center Director Bente Erichsen of the news that Obama would skip the peace center exhibit. Prize winners traditionally open the exhibitions about their work that accompany the Nobel festivities. “I totally understand why the Norwegian public is upset. If I could get a few minutes with the president, I’d say, ‘To walk through the exhibition wouldn’t take long, and I’m sure you would love the show. You have no idea what you are missing.’”

Meanwhile, the Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet is reporting that the president has declined an invitation to lunch with King Harald V, an event every prize winner from the Dalai Lama to Al Gore has attended. (The newspaper’s headline: “Obama disses lunch with King Harald.”)

Also among the dissed, according to news reports: a concert in Oslo on Friday that was arranged in his honor, and a group of Norwegian children who had planned to meet Obama in front of City Hall.

“The American president is acting like an elephant in a porcelain shop,” said Norwegian public-relations expert Rune Morck-Wergeland. “In Norwegian culture, it’s very important to keep an agreement. We’re religious about that, and Obama’s actions have been clumsy. You just don’t say no to an invitation from a European king. Maybe Obama’s advisers are not very educated about European culture, but he is coming off as rude, even if he doesn’t mean to.”

Indeed, judging by statements surrounding the president’s trip to Europe this week, it is beginning to appear as if the European love affair with Obama—which culminated in giving him the Nobel Prize—is over.

The Swedish news agency TT reported today that 44 percent of the Norwegians found Obama’s diss to King Harald V to be “rude.” Even more—53 percent—are upset about the fact that he is not attending the traditional concert. And by now a third of the Vikings believe that the U.S. president doesn’t deserve the Peace Prize. At the same time, 20 different Norwegian organizations have applied for a permit to demonstrate during Obama’s visit.

But some news outlets are cutting him a bit of slack, noting that he is dealing with two wars and soaring unemployment back home and a new war, and that his main focus this week should rightly be on the climate-change summit in Copenhagen. Taking part in all the activities surrounding his Nobel Prize could send the wrong message.

That may have something to do with Obama’s uncharacteristic shunning of the press. Whereas other prize winners have viewed the standard Nobel Peace Prize CNN interview as an opportunity to address the world for a full hour, Obama seems unwilling to answer any questions at all. There will be no press conference, just a statement from the president.

“It’s very strange that he is unwilling to meet the press,” said Marie Simonsen, political editor at Dagbladet, one of Norway’s biggest daily newspapers. “I’m very disappointed. You get the impression he is not proud of the prize.”

“You just don’t say no to an invitation from a European king. Maybe Obama’s advisers are not very educated about European culture, but he is coming off as rude, even if he doesn’t mean to.”

Obama is the second sitting American president to visit Norway. Ten years ago, President Clinton traveled to the country at the invitation of King Harald. “When Clinton was here he was walking into cafes in downtown Oslo, shaking hands with Norwegians on the street,” said Simonsen. “It doesn’t seem as if we are going to experience something similar with President Obama.”

Katarina Andersson is a New York-based freelance reporter for Swedish Broadcasting. She previously hosted a popular radio talk show in Sweden and covered politics, economy, and arts for numerous Scandinavian media outlets in the U.S. She lives in Brooklyn with her son.

At the risk of sounding non-PC, I suspect he got it for pretty much the same reason that Trevor McDonald got his Knighthood.

I didn’t know President Obama is a much-loved TV newsreader as well as being President of the USA.

We live and learn, eh?

At the risk of sounding non-PC, I suspect he got it for pretty much the same reason that Trevor McDonald got his Knighthood.

Its a great shame to see a Nobel prize awarded like this, Yes he is a breath of fresh air to politics and may well achieve great things, But I thought you get awarded for what you do not what you intend to do.

For that reason it devalues the whole Nobel organisation, I assume they just wanted to associate the award with him, But seems to me a mistake.

I suspect it was given to him because of his clear speech, not like the previous man.
G.

I do not think he has been in long enough for any of his initiatives (?), to have any proven effect yet. So it does appear political, but to what end I do not know.
If there was a thread “what made you sad today?” mine would be developments like this.