[NOTE: Even though there are several "you" references in my rant, they obviously do not apply to those who are not subscribing to the views I attribute to "you" :-)]
This meme that emanated from the wrong-wing and is quickly gaining wide circulation and buy-in from others in the reality-based world is quite unnerving: "...he was only President for 11 days when he was nominated!"
Not to put too fine a point on it, that is just plain stupid (as is most everything else that originates in the wing-nut domain these days/years/decades). What it implies is that only Presidential accomplishments count towards the peace prize -- and that is so patently absurd, considering that the vast majority of recipients were non-Presidents, that it is amazing to me that the reality-based community is starting to take it seriously. If you are thinking along those lines, STOP!
Here is a list of all the NPP winners:
# 2008 - Martti Ahtisaari
# 2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Al Gore
# 2006 - Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank
# 2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei
# 2004 - Wangari Maathai
# 2003 - Shirin Ebadi
# 2002 - Jimmy Carter
# 2001 - United Nations, Kofi Annan
# 2000 - Kim Dae-jung
# 1999 - Médecins Sans Frontières
# 1998 - John Hume, David Trimble
# 1997 - International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams
# 1996 - Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, José Ramos-Horta
# 1995 - Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
# 1994 - Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin
# 1993 - Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk
# 1992 - Rigoberta Menchú Tum
# 1991 - Aung San Suu Kyi
# 1990 - Mikhail Gorbachev
# 1989 - The 14th Dalai Lama
# 1988 - United Nations Peacekeeping Forces
# 1987 - Oscar Arias Sánchez
# 1986 - Elie Wiesel
# 1985 - International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
# 1984 - Desmond Tutu
# 1983 - Lech Walesa
# 1982 - Alva Myrdal, Alfonso García Robles
# 1981 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
# 1980 - Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
# 1979 - Mother Teresa
# 1978 - Anwar al-Sadat, Menachem Begin
# 1977 - Amnesty International
# 1976 - Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan
# 1975 - Andrei Sakharov
# 1974 - Seán MacBride, Eisaku Sato
# 1973 - Henry Kissinger, Le Duc Tho
# 1972 - The prize money for 1972 was allocated to the Main Fund
# 1971 - Willy Brandt
# 1970 - Norman Borlaug
# 1969 - International Labour Organization
# 1968 - René Cassin
# 1967 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1966 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1965 - United Nations Children's Fund
# 1964 - Martin Luther King Jr.
# 1963 - International Committee of the Red Cross, League of Red Cross Societies
# 1962 - Linus Pauling
# 1961 - Dag Hammarskjöld
# 1960 - Albert Lutuli
# 1959 - Philip Noel-Baker
# 1958 - Georges Pire
# 1957 - Lester Bowles Pearson
# 1956 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1955 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1954 - Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
# 1953 - George C. Marshall
# 1952 - Albert Schweitzer
# 1951 - Léon Jouhaux
# 1950 - Ralph Bunche
# 1949 - Lord Boyd Orr
# 1948 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1947 - Friends Service Council, American Friends Service Committee
# 1946 - Emily Greene Balch, John R. Mott
# 1945 - Cordell Hull
# 1944 - International Committee of the Red Cross
# 1943 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1942 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1941 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1940 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1939 - The prize money was with 1/3 allocated to the Main Fund and with 2/3 to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1938 - Nansen International Office for Refugees
# 1937 - Robert Cecil
# 1936 - Carlos Saavedra Lamas
# 1935 - Carl von Ossietzky
# 1934 - Arthur Henderson
# 1933 - Sir Norman Angell
# 1932 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1931 - Jane Addams, Nicholas Murray Butler
# 1930 - Nathan Söderblom
# 1929 - Frank B. Kellogg
# 1928 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1927 - Ferdinand Buisson, Ludwig Quidde
# 1926 - Aristide Briand, Gustav Stresemann
# 1925 - Sir Austen Chamberlain, Charles G. Dawes
# 1924 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1923 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1922 - Fridtjof Nansen
# 1921 - Hjalmar Branting, Christian Lange
# 1920 - Léon Bourgeois
# 1919 - Woodrow Wilson
# 1918 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1917 - International Committee of the Red Cross
# 1916 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1915 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1914 - The prize money was allocated to the Special Fund of this prize section
# 1913 - Henri La Fontaine
# 1912 - Elihu Root
# 1911 - Tobias Asser, Alfred Fried
# 1910 - Permanent International Peace Bureau
# 1909 - Auguste Beernaert, Paul Henri d'Estournelles de Constant
# 1908 - Klas Pontus Arnoldson, Fredrik Bajer
# 1907 - Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Louis Renault
# 1906 - Theodore Roosevelt
# 1905 - Bertha von Suttner
# 1904 - Institute of International Law
# 1903 - Randal Cremer
# 1902 - Élie Ducommun, Albert Gobat
# 1901 - Henry Dunant, Frédéric Passy
How many of them were heads of State or Government? For those who were not, the NPP was not deserved? So why is it that for President Obama the fact that he was nominated within days of taking his highest office yet, is the sole criterion by which to judge the merits of his winning it?
And to go beyond the obvious point that everyone is determinedly looking past, here are a number of facts that President Obama betters by a mile:
- Many of them (the NPP awardees listed above) got it for just one accomplishment, idea or proposal.
- Many of them simply suffered the consequences of their stances on one principle.
- Most of them were known only to a tiny fraction of humanity, necessarily limiting their impact.
There are any number of other such statistical observations to make of the galaxy of the NPP awardees, none of which diminish either the awardees or the committee for those awards. The committee makes certain strategic judgments that seem to, by and large, stand the test of time, even if slightly mystifying at the time.
However, in President Obama's case, any one of his achievements, before he ever ran for President, with sufficient bolstering, could have made him an appealing candidate to the Nobel committee, given their presumed predilections.
For instance, his work on reforming the death penalty case treatment in Illinois, as a State Senator, I bet, is a favorite of the committee -- death penalty is one of those issues that moves many Europeans profoundly, and for good reason.
His work registering voters, which arguably made the difference in Bill Clinton's election in Illinois, would be another favorite of the committee I am sure -- another pet cause with those softies.
Add his community work into that mix of voter registration later and death penalty reform, and you have an extremely attractive package for the committee (think Mohammad Yunus). I am not saying that anyone who does just this will/should get the NPP, but the fact that President Obama has done them adds to his appeal to the committee, IMNHO.
All this was before he captured the imagination of the world -- not a small feat, in this era of iPhone/iPod distraction and internet/intranet instantaneous character assassinations. He not only captured it with his campaign, but he ignited it as President, addressing marginalized people, mollifying giant fragile egos with post-super-power angst and managing the recalcitrant and the vengeful on the world scene deftly, humanely and yes, humbly.
Finally, many of the rather legendary recipients of the past are in no small measure legendary precisely because of the NPP, I would argue; meaning that much of their work was not yet done and many were still in the aspirational stages. Not that their work before was not deserving, but that the recognition of their work on the one hand probably motivated them to do better and on the other, made their work known to the world better.