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 USA 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."
The President shared his thoughts on this prestigious award earlier today:
I am very proud of my President today. How 'bout you?
5 comments:
Proud and hope it encourages him towards more diplomacy.
Saw a program about Philip Simmons If you haven't profiled him before, you might want to consider his story.
{yawn}
I want to see the accomplishments of the others who were on the list...
Lisa - MacDaddy provides a list of his accomplishments ... and more to the point ... shares his thoughts on how Obama's award compares to the Nobel Peace Prize given to MLK and Mother Teresa.
Jamie - Thanks for the link to Philip Simmons' story. I've never heard of him before today.
Congrats to the President on this prestigious award. I hope that it helps to keep him focused and inspired to complete the works that he has begun.
I think people are getting caught up on comparing him the POTUS to MLK, which is an unfair comparison because we are in very different times facing very different issues.
People should instead focus on the guidelines which state, "According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize is to go to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses(taken from http://nobelpeaceprize[dot]org/".
He has done and is continuing to do that.
Regina - Thanks for sharing the snippet from the Nobel Prize website. It appears that the Obama selection was very much in line with the Nobel Peace Prize purpose and mission. In any case, I'm very proud of our POTUS!
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