Word: prize
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...course, not all criticism has been aimed at the president. Though commentators took aim at Obama for his actions on behalf of the Olympic bid, harsh words over the prize have generally been more directed toward the Nobel Committee for its decision, rather than at Obama himself. Yet the mere existence of a controversy strongly implies a negative critique of the president as being a superficially popular leader who does not have to earn his accolades like everyone else...
Regardless of who is actually getting the brunt of it, the grumblings over Obama’s Nobel Prize are at best unproductive and at worst damaging to the “efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” that the award purported to recognize...
That is not to say that many around the U.S. and the globe did not have reason to react with surprise and confusion upon hearing that Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize so early in his presidential term. Given that Obama has still not produced many concrete diplomatic accomplishments in the few short months he has been in office, the award seems strangely premature, bestowed as an endorsement of Obama’s vision rather than his actions. Although none of this provides grounds for faulting Obama himself, who clearly didn’t submit his own nomination...
While there may be some truth to this allegation, it seems a tired argument. Despite the international prestige attached to the award, the Nobel Prize in Peace does not, and never has, explicitly reflect the opinion of the world. It was established by the Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel to be administered in Norway, and it should thus come as no shock that the prize recipients may reflect the political leanings of that country. After all, the winners are determined by the Norwegian Nobel Committee (appointed by the Norwegian Parliament), which reviews nominations and makes a decision based on recommendations from...
...most difficult to quantify. One could endlessly debate the merits of many Nobel laureates—Henry Kissinger, Yasser Arafat, and Theodore Roosevelt spring immediately to mind—but to what end? Nothing constructive can come of tedious arguments over whether Obama deserved the Nobel. He accepted the prize humbly—and even if he had refused it, Nobel Prize statutes dictate that it would not have gone to anyone else...