Friday, October 09, 2009

The Nobel Committee's Statement

You can read the entire statement here, but this appears to be the money graf, prepended with the closing sentence of the previous paragraph:
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.
Very pro-Obama and also a clear sigh of relief or slap at the previous administration or both, take your pick.

3 comments:

Elaine Fine said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elaine Fine said...

don't think that in the wildest collective imaginations of the members of the Nobel Committee they could ever conceive of the anti-Obama feeding frenzy that giving this Peace Prize would present. Then again, who would have imagined the whole string of "birthers," "tea-baggers," and anti-health-reform screamers that have come crawling out of the baseboards of our national house during the past several months.

I am trying to imagine what kinds of distasteful things these people will be saying tomorrow, after Barack Obama's speech about Gay Rights. I suppose, like most of the critics of this administration, the parties who are planning to be responsible for "bringing him down" are working on their reactions a good deal ahead of time. They are probably lined up at the trough already.

The world did breathe a collective sigh of relief back in February after Barack Obama was sworn into office. Changing the course of a disaster in progress is enough of an incentive for me to award the person responsible for re-setting the coordinates a prize. This award shows the larger world that there really is a better and more cooperative future ahead.

Lisa Hirsch said...

Hear, hear.

"...crawling out of the baseboards of our national house" is an excellent turn of phrase.