Feb 1 was the deadline for Nobel nominations

[proud2BlibKansan]

Anyone care to explain what great things Obama had done by Feb 1 to promote world peace?

That was 10 days into his presidency. Before his speech in Egypt.

What am I missing here?

[blogslut]

1. He was elected president of the United States

If you can't see the symbolic effect that has on the whole world, then I can't help you.

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. So was dubya and reagan

Merely being elected is enough to be nominated for a Nobel?

[Barack_America]

13. If you're upset Bush didn't get one, complain to the committee.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Nice leap there

[Hissyspit]

16. It takes only one person who has been invited to be a nominator to nominate:

It was revealed that in 1939, Adolf Hitler was nominated for the Peace Prize, the Swedish parliament member removed the nomination days later.

Stalin and Mussolini were also apparently nominated. Nominations do not reflect the opinions of the Peace Prize committee, the vote does.

[Barack_America]

35. +1

Great post.

[blogslut]

20. As I stated

If you can't see the symbolic effect that the election of this man had on the world, then I can't help you.

[Renew Deal]

29. Obama is the first minority elected directly to lead in any nation

At least that's what I remember hearing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

31. Nelson Mandella??

[Renew Deal]

32. I don't think he was elected directly

I think the African National Congress won the election and he was made president.

South Africa's first multi-racial elections in which full enfranchisement was granted were held on 27 April 1994. The ANC won 62% of the votes in the election, and Mandela, as leader of the ANC, was inaugurated on 10 May 1994 as the country's first black President, with the National Party's de Klerk as his first deputy and Thabo Mbeki as the second in the Government of National Unity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela#Presidency_of_South_Africa

[Freddie Stubbs]

36. Blacks are not a minority in South Africa

[AngryAmish]

37. Fujimori in Peru?

[saltpoint]

2. Sorry it upsets you that President Obama is the Peace Prize recipient.

It delights quite a few of the rest of us.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. Glad you're so delighted. I'm not upset, just asking a question.

Wondering what actual accomplishments earned this award.

[saltpoint]

26. The Nobel Peace Prize is a gesture toward the good.

I think they chose wisely.

[mucifer]

3. he was nominated then. when did they vote on it?

[babylonsister]

4. Try this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6733458

[FrenchieCat]

5. There were those 250,000 in Germany,

Then he won the election and the world felt like "it's a new day".....

and then he was inaugurated and he opened the U.S.'s hand.....a hand that had been a fist for so long....

And then they voted way after the time had been submitted.

I'm sure they reviewed what our President has been up to since February 1st,
prior to voting this morning......You think?

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. And what has he done to being about peace since then?

[Celebration]

6. he got nominated because he was sitting president

He got ELECTED on what he has done since then.

[MNDemNY]

He is not Bush.

[MrModerate]

7. I suspect he was nominated based on the euphoria of what his election . . .

proved was possible, even in America. I suspect he won on how he's changed the face of world diplomacy (just like the Nobel committee said). His speech in Cairo was huge, huge, huge.

[Betty Karlson]

8. This is what you are missing:

While the nomination should be in by February, the verdict comes in in October. Whatever the nominee does in the eight months in between will be weighed by the Nobel Prize comittee.

What Mr Obama had done by February may not have amounted to much, but maybe he had been nominated with a view to things already waiting to happen. Maybe the nominator knew about Egypt in advance?

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. So one speech is enough to win a Nobel?

[Captain Hilts]

22. Live and learn! Then he should share it with his speechwriters. nt

[Betty Karlson]

34. Egypt was used in my response

Because it had been used in the post I reacted to. I in no way implied that the Egypt speech sufficed to qualify Obama for his laureate, or that Egypt was the only thing he did since coming to office.

[Hissyspit]

10. Wikipedia:

Nominations for the Prize may be made by a broad array of qualified individuals, including former recipients, members of national assemblies and congresses, university professors (in certain disciplines), international judges, and special advisors to the Prize Committee. In 2009, a record 205 nominations were received.<5> The Committee keeps the nominations secret and asks that nominators do the same. Over time many individuals have become known as "Nobel Peace Prize Nominees", but this designation has no official standing.<6>

Compared with some other prizes, the Prize nomination and selection process is long and rigorous. This is a key reason why the Prizes have grown in importance over the years to become the most important prizes in their field.<8>

For the peace prize, inquiries are sent to such people as governments of states, members of international courts, professors and rectors at university level, former Peace Prize laureates, current or former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, among others. The Norwegian Nobel Committee then bases its assessment on nominations sent in before 3 February.<10> The submission deadline for nominations for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economics is 31 January.<11> Self-nominations and nominations of deceased people are disqualified.

The names of the nominees are never publicly announced, and neither are they told that they have been considered for the Prize. Nomination records are sealed for 50 years.<12> In practice, some nominees do become known. It is also common for publicists to make such a claim, founded or not.

After the deadline has passed, the nominations are screened by committee, and a list is produced of approximately 200 preliminary candidates. This list is forwarded to selected experts in the relevant field. They remove all but approximately 15 names. The committee submits a report with recommendations to the appropriate institution. The Assembly for the Physiology or Medicine Prize, for example, has 50 members. The institution members then select prize winners by vote.

The selection process varies slightly between the different disciplines. The Literature Prize is rarely awarded to more than one person per year, whereas other Prizes now often involve collaborators of two or three.

Nobel's will provides for prizes to be awarded in recognition for discoveries made "during the preceding year", and for the first years of the awards, the discoveries recognized were recent. However, some awards were made for discoveries that were later discredited. Taking the discrediting of a recognized discovery as an embarrassment, the awards committees began to recognize scientific discoveries that had withstood the test of time, in violation of the letter but not the spirit of Nobel's will.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Thank hissy

[hokies]

15. Over 200 people were nominated. I bet US presidents are always nominated

because they will clearly have the opportunity to have a large impact upon the world.

[Betty Karlson]

38. Bush Jr. certainly was nominated

His nomination was aimed at getting the Nobel Prize Comittee to sanctify the Iraq War. Nominations were few that year, and the prize went to the default candidate par excellence: The International Red Cross.

[DainBramaged]

19. I do not believe this has you so upset

I am truly suprised. But to each their own.

[proud2BlibKansan]

28. I am not upset. Just puzzled.

When Kissinger won in 73, that was upsetting. This time just strange.

[Captain Hilts]

21. Yes. This is crazy. I hope he earns it. nt

[CJCRANE]

23. Why don't you read what the Nobel committee said or watch the video.

The announcer explained it quite clearly.

[The Straight Story]

24. No one on the entire planet worked harder for peace

At least, that is the message I am hearing.

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. I kind of lost interest in the Nobel when Kissinger won it

Then my faith was renewed a bit when Gore won.

[Ichingcarpenter]

25. Nominations happen in Feb the voting happens in October

Upon invitation, members of governments or certain international organizations may nominate candidates for the peace prize. The Nobel Foundation’s statutes do not allow individuals to nominate themselves. Invitations to nominate candidates and the nominations themselves are both confidential.

Nominations of candidates are due on February 1 of the award year. Then, Nobel committee members and consultants meet several times to evaluate the qualifications of the nominees. The various committees cast their final votes in October and immediately notify the laureates that they have won.


http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761567175

[babylonsister]

27. The full citation, released this morning:

The full citation, released this morning:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the United States is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

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. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

[lukasahero]

33. Maybe it's not about his presidency?

Maybe it's about him as a man and what he has given the people of the world? You know that hope that everyone was talking about? He did that. He gave hope to millions of people around the world. And that happened long before he took the oath of this country's highest office. This is not about us - it's about the world.

[WonderGrunion]

39. Obama, Lugar Secure Funding for Implementation of Nonproliferation Law

http://lugar.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=278019&

$48 million funding increase to be used to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles, intercept weapons of mass destruction and respond to proliferation emergencies

Thursday, June 28, 2007

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barack Obama (D-IL) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) today announced that the Senate Appropriations Committee accepted their request to provide funding to implement the Lugar-Obama nonproliferation initiative. The Appropriations Committee expressed support for the initiative and provided $48 million for Lugar-Obama, $36 million for programs to destroy heavy conventional weapons, $10 million for efforts to intercept weapons and materials of mass destruction, and $2 million for rapid response to proliferation detection and interdiction emergencies. This is the culmination of an 18 month effort to authorize and fund the Lugar-Obama initiative.

First introduced in November 2005 and enacted in 2007, the Lugar-Obama initiative enhances U.S. efforts to destroy conventional weapons stockpiles and to detect and interdict weapons and materials of mass destruction throughout the world.

“I applaud the decision to provide funding to implement the Lugar-Obama initiative – a major step forward in addressing critical security challenges faced by the United States and our allies,” said Senator Obama. “Much of this funding will prevent conventional weapons from being used against our service members in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan and from falling into the hands of terrorists and fueling civil wars around the world. This funding will further strengthen our ability to detect and intercept illegal shipments of weapons and materials of mass destruction, enhancing efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism. I commend Senators Leahy and Gregg for their support on this critical issue.”