OSLO — Members of the Norwegian committee that gave Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize are strongly defending their choice against a storm of criticism that the award was premature and a potential liability for the U.S. president.
Asked to comment on the uproar following Friday’s announcement, four members of the five-seat panel told The Associated Press that they had expected the decision to generate both surprise and criticism.
Three of them rejected the notion that Obama hadn’t accomplished anything to deserve the award, while the fourth declined to answer that question. A fifth member didn’t answer calls seeking comment.
“We simply disagree that he has done nothing,” committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. “He got the prize for what he has done.”
Jagland singled out Obama’s efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.
“All these things have contributed to – I wouldn’t say a safer world – but a world with less tension,” Jagland said by phone from the French city of Strasbourg, where he was attending meetings in his other role as secretary-general of the Council of Europe.
He said most world leaders were positive about the award and that most of the criticism was coming from the media and from Obama’s political rivals.
“I take note of it. My response is only the judgment of the committee, which was unanimous,” he said, adding that the award to Obama followed the guidelines set forth by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite, who established the Nobel Prizes in his 1895 will.
“Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should go to the person who has contributed most to the development of peace in the previous year,” Jagland said. “Who has done more for that than Barack Obama?”
Aagot Valle, a left-wing Norwegian politician who joined the Nobel panel this year, also dismissed suggestions that the decision to award Obama was without merit.
“Don’t you think that comments like that patronize Obama? Where do these people come from?” Valle said by phone from the western coastal city of Bergen. “Well, of course, all arguments have to be considered seriously. I’m not afraid of a debate on the peace prize decision. That’s fine.”
In Friday’s announcement, the committee said giving Obama the peace prize could be seen as an early vote of confidence intended to build global support for the policies of his young administration.
at 11:26 am
I guess President Obama must say what he says, regarding its not about RACISM!
Racist Groups and Threats against Obama’s life has TRIPLEOLD, and steadly GROWING, and he says its not about Racism? There are MORE RACIST’S and HATE GROUPS in America, then there are of the so-called Taliban, whose joining together to KICK America out of their country, trying to PREVENT them from STEALING & MURDERING their People and taking their Rich, ABUNDANT, Natural Resources!
Rich White Americans, along with those in Europe actually believe that they CAN go around the World, Overpower, put in their cronies, then proceed to MURDER & STEAL what they want; while China being RESPECTFUL, conducting business contracts, to DEVELOP their Natural Resouces in Afghanistan unmined Copper Fields!
I’m sorry too many rich, wealthy powerful white men, are the TRUE “Axis of Evils, and the Terrorist’s of the World!” The so-called Terrorist of the Middle East can’t begin to compete against these White Terrorist’s and Racist’s!
I further believe, that they are so HATEFUL and EVIL, that they WILL DESTROY the World before they allow People of Color to control their land, country and resources. That they will DROP THE NUCLEAR BOMBS, hide out in their Mansion like Underground Shelters, wait it out, and come back and start their Bully Pulpit all over again!
If there is a God, I ask the Almighty Spirit, how they allow this to continue Generation after Generation, destroying his creations. But I believe the simple answer is, if there is not a God within us, and we don’t do what’s necessary to stop these Evil Doer’s, than what good are we, therefore, we get back, what efforts we’ve put forward!
If WE, the People don’t shut down these evil doer’s, they will continue to shut us down, until we are NO MORE! They will continue to go from country to country, destroying them, as they have America!
President Obama canNOT do this by himself, he needs a TEN MILLION AMERICAN MARCH to stop Wall Street, Big Oil, Corporate America and the Insurance Industry!
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DROP EVERYTHING, AND START THIS MARCH UNTIL WE STOP THE GREEDY CEO’S FROM DESTROYING US AND OUR FAMILIES! IT IS UP TO US, FOR WE ARE SURVIVING & STRUGGLING EVERYDAY, FROM WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO US.