Seth Warren

Yeah, it's all over the place that Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. I don't have much to say on the subject aside from "he doesn't deserve it," but Ted Rall nails it:

In what one of the most appalling decisions since the Medal of Freedom went to Paul Bremer, Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace (cough) Prize.

Setting aside the obvious question--what peace agreement did he negotiate> in what material way did he promote the cause of peace?--one has to slap one's collective forehead in amazement at the spectacle of a man getting ready to send 40,000 more troops to kill Afghans winning such a prize. The Iraq War continues without end. Afghanistan is ramping up. Drone planes are bombing Pakistani civilians for fun and profit. He's sabre-rattling with Guinea. He continues to torture detainees in Guantanamo, Bagram, Diego Garcia, various secret prisons, etc. He hasn't restored habeas corpus. He wants to renew the Patriot Act.

Thank you, Ted - I knew I could count on you.

I've read people calling it "awesome" that Obama won this. How is this "awesome?" Is the bar for "awesome" so low that a sitting President must merely sit back and maintain the status quo of ruination left by his predecessor in order to be Nobel material? Do we really have such abysmally pathetic standards?

Yeah, apparently so.