President Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize
Obama reacts to the award
At 6 am EST, President Barack Obama was alerted about a new award: the Nobel Peace Prize. President Obama later addressed the nation with the surprising news while also humbly accepting the award. He stated that, “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize.” Instead, he see the award, not as representing his achievements, but as a ”call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century.”
The award does come with its own controversy. 1983 Nobel Prize laureate, Lech Walesa (former Polish President) stated that he felt the award was given to President Obama too early: “He [Obama] has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”
Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican Party, also disagrees with the Nobel Prize committee awarding President Obama with such a prestigious honor. Steele states that it is “unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."
Other Republican politicians and media personnel have also questioned the Nobel Prize Committee. Fox News Columnist Tommy De Seno has even go so far as to make a list of the accomplishments of the president and sums everything up by writing that, “The short path to the Nobel Peace Prize: Party, go to meetings, skip church, release federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries, party some more." Other Republican politicians and media personnel have also questioned the Nobel Prize Committee.
So why did President Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize?
The Nobel Prize was awarded to President Obama because of his efforts to reduce nuclear arms, release tension in the religious world, and encourage diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism. Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland states that, "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.”
President Obama is the third sitting American President to win the Nobel Peace Prize. President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson was awarded the prize in 1919.
Sources:
"A Call to Action"
GOP Cheif Scoffs
