Obama Deserving of Nobel Peace Prize?

Barack Obama was one of 205 people nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year ('09). He is being awarded the prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Informative article from Yahoo! news
' ' ' CNN.com/Europe

Many points in the articles I have read note that he is still involved in two wars, has failed to pass a bill on climate change, "has yet to yield concrete achievements in peacemaking." A dissenting opinion is that the Nobel Peace Prize can act almost as insurance, to further put strength behind his push towards his international goals. "The Norwegian Nobel Committee countered that it was trying 'to promote what he stands for and the positive processes that have started now.'"

Do you believe that Obama is currently deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize? Do you think that it is too early to see if Obama has succeeded in strengthening international diplomacy, or in contrast, do you think that his efforts have succeeded and he has already made a great impact for peace on an international scale?

My opinion, really, is... why so soon? He will be in office for a number of years to come, and at that time, either his accomplishments will hold merit instead of just promise, or he will have stagnated towards reaching his goals.

from my post in the pool room:

Compare the USA and the Russia releations pre and post Obama. Here we see the biggest sign of what they are talking about. Russia and the USA have always been constantly at odds, but now, we have reached a compromise, and are now teamed together in taking diplomatic (and not military) action against the development of any Nuclear Missile program. Then we can look at the other changes, such as the Cuba vs. UN, where the UN has ended its sanctions and welcomed by Cuba to the UN. What we see here is a growing trend of compromise, according to the Nobel Peace Prize, this is in result from Obama stressing the need for global unity in this time of global sturggle. This is their reasoning, that he has effected and changed the way international disputes have been handled, and for the better. That is how they see it.

EDIT- Did some research.
Info from wikipedia
According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which recognize completed scientific or literary accomplishment, the Nobel Peace Prize may be awarded to persons or organizations that are in the process of resolving a conflict or creating peace.

To some degree, I feel like he recieved the award not necessarily for what he has accomplished in his presidency, but due to what is symbolizes for him to have become president. Simply being the first black president of america has given hope and motivation to people all around the world. It also represents a historic moment in american history that reflects on the peace achieved over the last ~44 years due to our consistently decreasing amounts of racism.

I remember reading that the nomination was less than 2 weeks after he took office; whether he 'deserves' it or not now has little to do with the reasons he actually received it

KrazyGlue said:

To some degree, I feel like he recieved the award not necessarily for what he has accomplished in his presidency, but due to what is symbolizes for him to have become president. Simply being the first black president of america has given hope and motivation to people all around the world. It also represents a historic moment in american history that reflects on the peace achieved over the last ~44 years due to our consistently decreasing amounts of racism.

Click to expand...

Sounds to me like the American citizens deserve the prize, not Obama

pockyD said:

Sounds to me like the American citizens deserve the prize, not Obama

Click to expand...

Ha! True, true. Didn't say I agreed with it, did I? I just think that was why they gave it to him. Sort of as a symbolic gesture.

Him getting the award kinds cheapens the effect of it a bit, then again when Kissinger got it I said that same thing. It just seems kind of silly to get an award about peace when you're engaged in two conflicts. His foreign policy is bush/Cheney 2.0 now with added sympathy for the Muslim world. Also to Russia isn't as revolutionary as one might think, we've been doing that for ages.