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SURPRISE! It's our own President Barack Obama! So the question is "What did he win?" and "Why did he win it?" The answer is "The Nobel Peace Prize" and the reason is "Who knows?" But let me back up a bit to talk about what this award IS and what it means. The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset) is a Swedish prize, established in the will of Swedish chemist and inventor Alfred Nobel in 1895; it was first awarded in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, and Peace in 1901. Examples of those who have been awarded the Nobel Prize over the years give the idea of the importance of their work and its meaning to the life of the world. This information was pulled from Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize).
"the American civil rights activist was the youngest person to be recognized by the Nobel foundation when he won the Peace Prize in 1964, at the age of 35, for his work to end racial discrimination through non-violent means. Even after his death in 1968 King's legacy lived on, and his image is still used today as a symbol by human rights groups around the world." President of United States of America - "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development" "for his work for a better organized and more peaceful world" "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa" "for his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community" Bishop of Johannesburg; former Secretary General, South African Council of Churches (S.A.C.C.) Trade union leader (Solidaritet) Leader of Missionaries of Charity, Calcutta President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Prime Minister of Israel Soviet nuclear physicist Secretary of State, State Department, Washington Secretary General of the U.N. Missionary surgeon; Founder of Lambaréné (République de Gabon) President of United States of America; Founder of the League of Nations President of United States of America; Collaborator of various peace treaties This morning's Express-Times had a big editorial on Obama's Peace Prize, calling it "Premature". If indeed the thought was that he was at least different from the previous administration and better liked by the European and especially Muslim nations (Barack Hussein Obama), giving him dessert first was understandable. But that still leaves him with a plate of vegetables to eat, and these are important. They include both international problems and internal ones, such as health care, education, on-going wars, economics, and nuclear disarmament. Who's going to remain at the table to see that he partakes of the nutritional and necessary parts of his meal?
Perhaps there is one thing, though, that we can credit the new president with in terms of his actions for peace. By winning the democratic nomination, he pushed Hillary Clinton out of her position in the senate and into helping him win the election as a fellow democrat. And when he was elected, he did something else for which he should be credited: he made Hillary Secretary of State. This got her out of the country altogether and into places where she could truthfully say, without "mis-stating", that she exited her plane "under heavy fire".
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