So why don't Republican presidents win the Peace Prize anymore?

Just askin'.

Teddy Roosevelt won in 1906. Last & I believe, only, Republican President (sitting President) to win.

What an extraordinary honor! It's great that others see the extent and potential of his diplomatic efforts, even if many people in the United States don't.

It kind of cheapens the Prize IMO. It's clearly a political move designed to state in the loudest terms that the world thinks the US is now on the right track. Big thumb in the eye of the Neocons and Bush. I'm happy about that but there are many people who better deserved recognition for their efforts to secure a more peaceful world in concrete ways. If it was really about just talking a good game, how come it took Carter 20 years to get his? Carter had loads of peace initiatives and actual sit-downs with intransigent Middle-Easterners before he was even considered. The cheapening of the Peace Prize came before this though. I don't think Al Gore deserved his either.

Kinda puts Az State's not conferring an honorary degree in a different light though doesn't it.

I guess the Nobel Committee didn't need to see a birth certificate! (KIDDING)

As much as I like the president I get a definite "screw you Bush" feeling from this. The RW freakout will be a mixture of fun and painful to watch...

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

"Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

"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. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

"For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. 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.'"

reaction of my friends in Holland: why is he getting this now? What has
he done that warrants this? And another: "They probably said: shit let's give it to Obama and let's go golfing."

The President has definitely changed the climate in world affairs for the better. I do think they are rewarding the US for changing course and rejecting the Bush doctrine and the entire Bush taint.

I say he should accept it and I will enjoy the weekend wingnut and villager freak out.

We can chew over the merits of the choice till the cows come home, but where I take particular personal satisfaction is after a week of telling people the Chicago 2016 failure had nothing to do with Obama (and that he had not lost any of his global mojo), I can categorically say, "I told you so".

Conservatives are livid. The Fox Noise morning cast went crazy. Literally!

Right wing freakout will indeed commence.

This looks like a very direct response to the campaign (orchestrated by Bush supporters and neocons) to nominate our last president for a "peace" prize after he invaded Iraq to impose peace and democracy upon the Middle East.

I love Barack Obama but this is fucking lame.
He's supposed to negotiate nuke treaties
It's his job.
As for the middle east
he's not any farther along than Bush.
What, is this a slow year for courageous activists under government threat?

This is completely undeserved and undermines the entire award. Complete and utter bullshit.

And on the other hand it is delicious to watch the right squirm.
This is not just thanks for not electing McCain, combined with Gore's prize it's a double barrel piss on George W's "legacy".

I love all the "I'm an Obama supporter, but..." posts. LOL

Perhaps, people should read the rationale behind the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Peace Prize to President Obama; I've posted their statement above.

Also, you should understand that the Peace Prize is typically awarded while people are in the MIDST of their work, not AFTER it has been completed. By that rationale, Gore wouldn't have won the award either; global warming is still very much a problem. He was awarded for his efforts to draw attention to the climate change issue.

I shouldn't be surprised that people are freaking out about this, but I have to admit that I am. I'm especially flabbergasted by the responses from people who claim to be "supporters." President Obama has made concrete, substantial, and noteworthy diplomatic and nonproliferation steps forward for this nation. I would think that people who claim to be supporters could, at least for a few moments, laud the notion that his efforts have been recognized and encouraged and honored by the Nobel Committee.

via freeperville:

all bush did was free 25 million people from a sadistic tyrant.

and:

looks like affirmative action infects the IOC.

awww, somebody's still bitter dubya didn't get his ...

I don't get it. I must be missing something, but I'd bet President Obama didn't want this right now either. I mean seriously, what has he done compared to past winners - not to mention he's likely going to send more troops into Afghanistan.

Of course the Olympic snub was supposed to be a big slap in the face so it will be interesting seeing the wing nut attack on this.

I wish he didn't win it - if he would have won it in 7-8 years then it might have meant something.

This does seem a bit premature. If Obama was awarded this because of his outlook rather than any accomplishment, then I think the award should have gone to all of us who actually voted him into office.

This is what one would call a carrot. The Nobel Organization is handing this prize to Obama, but really giving it to all of us for electing him president. Its their way of telling us to keep up the good work.

In nine years when the Obama Administration Memoirs start hitting the shelves, I bet we'll read that President Obama's first words after hearing the news will have been "For what?".

President Obama very likely feels that he shouldn't have won this award now and I'll be interested to see how he handles it.

Be glad for the prez. If nothing else, now he has to STEP UP!!

the delicious part of this is gonna be all the right wing goofballs at my office freaking out and crying. excellent!!

I think he should respectfully turn it down. It would send an important message to the world about how much more work we all have to do and would win Obama more credit for humility.

I realize that the prize is different than the science prizes for completed work, but he is so early in his term, and still in the midst of fighting so many legislative fights within the country.

ABC news homepage, third item down:

Poll: Nobel Picks Not Always Popular

I'll give a new shiny nickel to anyone who finds a mainstream news org that extends congratulations or admiration to the President on this.

These right wing hacks are unreal. They have controlled the media. We have Chuck Todd saying things like, "Obama won't accept this prize." What a joke.

I'm thrilled that our president won this prize. I'm proud to have voted for him. He's a good man and, while I have expressed frustration at the public option and about some other key policy issues, he's someone that is infinitely better than any reasonable alternative.

Obama threw our country under the bus to get this second rate prize. Is he going to keep the money?

What's the big deal? Even Kissinger won a Nobel Peace Prize, as have several other war mongers from several countries. Further, Obama clearly has been a war president both in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and he's been rattling the sabers in Iran. Hasn't done a thing to reduce America's absurd spending of the military. Winning a Nobel Peace Prize has little real meaning in terms of assessing one's commitment to peace. The proof of the pudding is in the tasting, not in gaining fancy unearned prizes.

While I think it's ridiculous at this point to award the President the Nobel Peace Prize, I am also struck by:

1. When the US lost the 2016 Olympics last week, the GOP cheered.
2. When the US President wins a Nobel Prize this week, the GOP boos.

Do they love America? I guess only when they are in charge.

Congratulations Mr. President

New York Times:

Mr. Obama’s foreign policy has been criticized bitterly among neoconservatives like former Vice President Dick Cheney, who have suggested his rhetoric is naïve and his inclination to talk to America’s enemies will leave the United States vulnerable to another terrorist attack. In its announcement of the prize, the Nobel Committee seemed to directly refute that line of thinking.

“Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics,” the committee wrote. “Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.”

Interviewed later in the Nobel Committee’s wood-paneled meeting room, surrounded by photographs of past winners, Mr. Jagland brushed aside concerns expressed by some critics that Mr. Obama remains untested.

“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Mr. Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”

He compared the selection of Mr. Obama with the award in 1971 to the then West German Chancellor Willy Brandt for his “Ostpolitik” policy of reconciliation with communist eastern Europe.

“Brandt hadn’t achieved much when he got the prize, but a process had started that ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall,” said Mr. Jagland. “The same thing is true of the prize to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, for launching perestroika. One can say that Barack Obama is trying to change the world, just as those two personalities changed Europe.”

Actually a bold choice by the Nobel people.

Congratulations to the president.

This is great news for Hillary Clinton and John McCain!!!!!!!

Sorry--couldn't resist. :)