President Obama addressing the United Nations.
There have been other USA Presidents that have won the Nobel Peace Prize, but, NONE with less than a year of time in office. Barak Obama is a remarkable man. A brave, truthful and sincere leader.
I could not be more proud of our country at this moment. He bravely stepped 'out of the box' and put it on the table. There will be peace and there will be non-proliferation. Isn't that what the USA is all about?
I also don't believe we can foresake the peace of the people of Afghanistan either. Peace sometimes comes with a price and it sometimes means securing the USA away from any future 'infrastructure' failures, while, building alliances that will perpetuate a future of our children and Earth.
From the New York Times:
In Surprise, Nobel Peace Prize to Obama for Diplomacy (click title to entry - thank you)
...The award cited in particular Mr. Obama’s effort to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenal. “He has created a new international climate,” the committee said....
From the Chicago Tribune:
Obama: Nobel Prize for Peace
Posted October 9, 2009 7:55 AM
by Mark Silva and updated
President Barack Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."...
From the Washington Post:
Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By Debbi Wilgoren and Scott Wilson
Washington Post Staff Writers Friday, October 9, 2009; 9:44 AM
President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons -- a stunning decision to celebrate a figure virtually unknown in the world before he launched his campaign for the White House nearly three years ago....
From the Los Angeles Times:
President Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
The Nobel committee notes 'his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.'
By Mark Silva Los Angeles Times
October 9, 2009 4:46 a.m.
Reporting from Washington — President Obama, who has pledged to place diplomacy ahead of confrontation and reached out to a skeptical world with offers of mutual understanding, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today for what the committee called "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."
Obama is only the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize -- President Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906, President Woodrow Wilson in 1919....
From the Houston Chronicle (It wasn't their lead story - click here. I mean what?):
President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By KARL RITTER and MATT MOORE Associated Press
Oct. 9, 2009, 8:12AM
...Nobel observers were shocked by the unexpected choice so early in the Obama presidency, which began less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama woke up to the news a little before 6 a.m. EDT. The White House had no immediate comment on the announcement, which took the administration by surprise.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided not to inform Obama before the announcement because it didn't want to wake him up, committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said.
"Waking up a president in the middle of the night, this isn't really something you do," Jagland said....
From the Miami Herald:
In a surprise, Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
..."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," Jagland said.
Obama's election and foreign policy moves caused a dramatic improvement in the image of the U.S. around the world. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush.
Still, the U.S. remains at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress has yet to pass a law reducing carbon emissions and there has been little significant reduction in global nuclear stockpiles since Obama took office.
"So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate....
I don't believe Walesa was ever nominated.
From the Boston Globe:
In a surprise, Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize (click here)
By Karl Ritter and Matt Moore
Associated Press Writers / October 9, 2009
...The award appeared to be a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.
"You have to remember that the world has been in a pretty dangerous phase," Jagland said. "And anybody who can contribute to getting the world out of this situation deserves a Nobel Peace Prize."...
I am pleased to see the newspapers are covered by AP, but, there needs to be some legislation somewhere that helps revitalize the art of journalism. Freedom of Speech also includes having newspapers as our Fourth Arm of Government, but, if that 'speech' boils down to 'one voice' regardless of how correct and benign that voice is there is danger to our right under the First Amendment.
The USA is just about the most powerful nation in the world by military standards. When their leadership makes a clear stance for the pursuit of peace, when even 'the concept' hung in the balance of extinction before, that speaks loudly of the people of our nation as well as our 'incubator' for leadership.
President Obama has reaffirmed the USA as a benevolent nation and one centered on justice and peace. He has taken the question of our ability to govern with peaceful intent out of question. He is a great man that looked into the future and saw a world of colleagues and not enemies. It is possible, very possible for the world's leaders to rid this planet of any malice, either through sovereignty, sustainability and environmental. It is possible.
President Obama took on the challenges he faced when entering the White House with determination and energy. He has brought the hopes and dreams of the International Community to life and within the realm of possibility. He has many years in his ambitions to accomplish some of the greatest tasks any USA President has adopted to his administration. Let there be no doubt, it will happen.
I can't say it enough, Barak Obama pursued a path to greatness and never before in history has a man of this caliper graduated as President of Harvard Law Review, shrugged off the opportunities to wealth and embarked on venues of change working with the grassroots of our society. He is an incredible individual with unmistakable vision and commitment. I am proud of him, his journey to date and the future he is promising.
Thank you, Barak.
