Obama's Nobel Roundup

In an excellent post earlier today, Joshua Livestro wrote about the bizarre decision of the Nobel Committee to award Barack Obama the once prestigious Nobel Peace Prize. I thought it might be useful to look at what others are saying about the Nobel Committee's wacky decision. Many of these are written by liberals and some of these are absolutely hilarious.

From Mark Phillips:

The sound you could hear this morning was of heads being scratched around the world.

From Ruth Marcus:

This is ridiculous -- embarrassing, even.

From David Ignatious:

The Nobel Peace Prize award to Barack Obama seems so goofy -- even if you’re a fan, you have to admit that he hasn’t really done much yet as a peacemaker.

From Richard Cohen:

In a stunning announcement, Millard Fillmore Senior High School chose Shawn Rabinowitz, an incoming junior, as next year’s valedictorian. The award was made, the valedictorian committee announced from Norway of all places, on the basis of “Mr. Rabinowitz’s intention to ace every course and graduate number one in class.” In a prepared statement, young Shawn called the unprecedented award, “f---ing awesome.”

From Stephen Stromberg:

Many commentators have wondered how President Obama could have won the Nobel Peace Prize less than a year into his first term. Has he made peace between anyone, anywhere in the world?

But anyone paying attention to the White House’s press release e-mail list a few days ago knows the real reason: Obama proclaimed Oct. 9th Leif Erikson Day, in honor of the Nordic explorer who landed in America a millennium ago, founding Vinland, a small settlement in what would later become Newfoundland.

From William Kristol:

The magazine I edit, The Weekly Standard, features a Parody each week. We had a pretty good one ready to go today (the magazine closes Friday). But now we’ll have to scrap it. Instead, we’ll do something we do occasionally, and publish a Not a Parody instead. And for that we’ll simply reproduce the headline, ”Barack Obama Wins 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.”

From Michael Gerson:

At first I thought the announcement of the prize was a joke. On further reflection, the Nobel Committee has made itself a joke.

From Ezra Klein:

Obama also awarded Nobel prize in chemistry. "He's just got great chemistry," says Nobel Committee.

From Richard Kim:

I woke up, read the New York Times website and thought I had come to the Onion instead. I hit refresh. Still there: "Obama Wins Nobel for Diplomacy." Maybe this is one of my weird work-related dreams, I thought. Maybe I am still drunk from last night's party. Better close my eyes and wake up again in the real world.

From John Dickerson:

It came a week late, but President Obama did win the gold. Last Friday, the International Olympic Committee stiffed him. Today, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He should probably leave his schedule open next Friday, because apparently anything can happen.

From Michael Binyon:

...the prize risks looking preposterous in its claims, patronising in its intentions and demeaning in its attempt to build up a man who has barely begun his period in office, let alone achieved any tangible outcome for peace.

[...]

The achievements of all previous winners have been diminished.

From Rick Moran:

According to their own website, the deadline for the submission of names to be considered for the prize is February 1.

Obama was not nominated based on what he had accomplished as president because he had been in office for less than two weeks.

I would add a simple, declarative WTF and leave it at that.

From Thomas Lifson:

Is this a consolation prize from the Europeans, over humiliating Obama on the Olympics? I wonder: has anyone in Hollywood nominated Roman Polanski for next year yet?

From Steve McCann:

An ego unmatched in United States presidential history will now be beyond unsufferable. His denigration of our country has paid personal dividends already.

From Michael Goldfarb:

Obama Wins the Masters!
He's really been working on his game and it was only a matter of time until he broke 90...

From The Examiner:

CNN’s Anderson Cooper co-hosted this morning’s “Live with Regis & Kelly”. During the live taping Cooper said when he heard President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize, he thought that it “was a joke”. He went on to make a joke himself stating that Regis and Kelly were on the list to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

From Rush Limbaugh:

A shocking announcement today from the National Football League, an announcement that has shocked the football world. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the board at the National Football League have named the Kansas City Chiefs the winners of this season's Super Bowl, which will be played in February. The NFL decided to reward the Chiefs for their good intentions at rebuilding a lackluster franchise. Despite their 0-4 record they have been proclaimed the winners of the Super Bowl yet to be played in 2010.

From Jed Babbin:

President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. By awarding Obama that prize, the Nobel committee has placed Obama in the same category as Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and the late terrorist Yassir Arafat. We could not agree more.

From Yuval Levin:

I wonder if any commentator, anywhere on the political spectrum, will offer a genuine straight-faced defense or case for this prize. Whoever does will no-doubt win next year's Nobel Prize for literature.

There's more, but I'll end this with Mr. Levin's above prediction for next year's Nobel Prize for Literature.

Update by Doug: (H/T Nancy) C4P reader and commenter Nancy had a theory that the Beer Summit is what put Obama over the top. After extensive research, Nancy's hypothesis appears to be correct. From Borowitz.com:

OSLO, NORWAY (The Borowitz Report) - As the world responded with a mixture of surprise and amazement to the announcement of President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize, Nobel insiders revealed that the President's "beer summit" at the White House put him over the top.

"The committee was definitely split down the middle right up until the end," said Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician and member of the five-person Nobel committee. "Some of them were still quite upset about that nasty business with the Somali pirates."

But, according to Ms. Valle, "someone brought up the beer summit, and we all agreed that that was awesome."

Ms. Valle said she hoped that Mr. Obama's victory would be seen not only as a victory for him, but "as a tribute to the healing power of beer."