I decided to carry out a search of some of the former Nobel Peace Prize controversies of days past, and the one from 1936 (actually the 1935 prize but awarded in November 1936) to be particularly interesting as someone else considered the awarding of the prize to be blatant partisanship. The images are here, but the two articles I found are short and the text of the second one is below.
HITLER INTERESTS HIMSELF IN NOBEL PRIZE AWARD
BERLIN (AP) - Reichsfuehrer Adolf Hitler personally interested himself Tuesday in the selection of Carl von Ossietzky, German recently released from nazi custody, as the winner of the Nobel peace prize for 1936.
Hitler summoned officials from the foreign office and ministries of justice and propaganda to a conference at noon.
A communique was under consideration, informed sources said, protesting the award and branding it a "misuse of a humanitarian institution for partisan political purposes." It was expected to be issued officially later.
This is not a comparison of anyone to Hitler or Barack Obama to a political prisoner, but it does show the often controversial nature of the award. At the time in 1936 Berlin had just had the Olympics and World War II was a ways away, so the award was seen as a bit of a slap in the face to the country and a few committee members resigned in protest.
Also note that the person that had received the award didn't succeed in his goals - he didn't stop Hitler from carrying out WWII, he never led a country, etc., but his stated goals for the world deserved the attention and prestige that the award brings. And 20/20 hindsight shows the committee to be right in their "partisan political purposes" that seemed to be so controversial at the time.