Nobel Noob

Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize today.

"Obama won? Really? Wow," said David Hassan, 43, of Pine Brook, New Jersey, from his coffee and pastry cart in Times Square. "He deserves it I guess, he's the president. He's a smart guy and I guess he's into peace."

Now, we're only three Blogs into this new site, so you may not know what my political leanings are. I'll be upfront and honest; I have a conservative bias. But seriously? Come on. This is... ri-donk-ulous. I'm probably not going to be able to add much to the discussion that hasn't already been better stated elsewhere. But what I can do is sum it all up and offer my own mini-rant:

The deadline for nominations was February 1st, 2009. The Presidential Inauguration was January 20th, 2009, less than two weeks prior. Obama is the third sitting president to ever be given this peace prize. And he was nomimated after being in office for less than two weeks. So, either he did something remarkable between January 20th and February 1st, or he was nominated simply for winning an historic election. Oh, and not being Bush. That's a good thing, too.

Except, what non-Bush things has he done? Gitmo hasn't been closed. We're still fighting, and even adding more troops, in Afghanistan. SNL is doing comedy skits on just how little Obama has done or changed anything.

Okay, so there's no change... yet. But there's still hope, right? I mean, that's what this guy is all about. Hope and Change? It's even been said that this award is less about what's he's accomplished and more about encouraging him to follow through on his promises. It's preemptive. I mean, we all KNOW he's going to do great things right? What's wrong with helping build a little momentum?

Here's what's wrong (at least in my mind): Every decision the dude makes from this point on is going to be in the shadow of this "Peace Prize." He still has 3-7 years left in office. He may have to make a military decision between now and the end of his presidency. Is he going to have to decide between what he should do and what a "Nobel Peace Prize Winner" would do? I hope not. And frankly, I think he's smarter than that. But I do think the global community is trying to influence him that way. In the best light, this is silly. In the worst light... ok it's still silly.

Two key White House aides were both convinced they were being punked when they heard the news, reported ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

“It’s not April 1, is it?” one said.