Egypt: No Accolades for Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

A big thank for the Nobel Committee – they have just made our day today. Perhaps most of the people here are not sure why US President Barack Obama was honored, and they are pretty sure that he doesn't deserve it. But they were all happy, because it gave them hope that everyone and anyone can win the prize. It wasn't only the people here who were shocked that he won, but even the Associate Press has the same point of view:

For one of America's youngest presidents, in office less than nine months — and only for 12 days before the Nobel nomination deadline last February — it was an enormous honor.
The prize seems to be more for Obama's promise than for his performance.

The Egyptians reactions started with announcements on Twitter

@amradelamin: Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize.
@fustat: President Obama awarded the Nobel peace prize 2009

Then some others were really astonished.

Ghafari: نعم! اوباما فاز بنوبل للسلام؟ سلام ايه؟ وفين وامته؟.
@Ghafari: Yes! Obama was given the Nobel Prize for Peace? What peace? When and how?
@embee: Obama? WTF?
@alaa: Oh f**k me. The president of a country waging two preemptive wars in two countries (I'll ignore Pakistan) wins the Nobel Peace Prize?
@waelabbas: Obama wins Nobel prize for aiding Dictators
@Ssirgany: Nobel Prize nomination deadline was Feb 1, just 10 days after Obama took office. What did he do in those 10 days?

While the majority started making fun of it

@nightS: Obama and Nobel Peace Prize?!?!?! I guess it's good news..I mean I can win it in 2010 if they really saw he deserves it!!
@Sarahcarr: The Nobel award ceremony should be held in Afghanistan and attended by relatives of civilians Obama's troops have butchered.
@minazekri: Noblepeaceprize winner Mr. Obama to study a request to increase his troops in his war in Afghanistan.
@minazekri: Afghanistan, Iraq and now Obama is about to PUNISH Iran, surely he is the best choice for Nobel Peace Prize
@moftasa: Funny how politicians can get the Nobel prize before they do anything, while scientists get it sometimes decades after their discoveries.
@moftasa: Barbara McClintock won her Nobel prize in Medicine in 1983 for her discovery of gene transposition in the 40s and 50s.
@alaa: @moftasa funnier how mandela had to wait until his victory and had to split it with a racist murderer or how ghandi failed to get it 4 times
@WilYaWil: Obama may deserve a Nobel prize for speech, but not peace!
@BooDy: قلت لابوي و انا صغير يابا انا عاوز آخد جايزة نوبل ضحك علي الندل و قالي ذاكر و ابقى عالم و انت تاخدها أتاريني الأسهل اني ابقى سفاح
@BooDy: I once told my father, wen I was young, I want to win the Nobel Prize. He laughed and told me I have to study to be a scientist in order to get it, however it seems that it's easier to be a murderer to get it.
@WilYaWil: Kanye West interrupts Obama Nobel speech “I'll let you finish, but this is the worst Nobel for peace decision of all-time”
@Amiralx: And I should win a Grammy for singing in the shower!

Arabawy also wrote a special post about it in his blog.

The butcher of Iraq and Afghanistan (and Pakistan) has won the Nobel Peace prize. Congratulations! [Mabrouk!] It’s a great day for world freedom. Obama, Manachem Begin, Henri Kissinger–all men who made this planet a great place to live in. Why can’t Mubarak and Habib el-Adly get it too? The message those a**holes in Norway are sending: Murder and butcher your way to Nobel.

And finally, some others had a different point of view:

@majdtweets: On the bright side: Now that Obama won a Nobel Peace Prize, he might actually want/have to stand up to the title & make peace!
@sarsour: I like Obama – he seems like a cool guy. He does however seem to get a lot of credit for things BEFORE having actually done them.

13 comments

  • sol solari

    Silly question.Obviously Obama’s advisers and sponsors nominated him. He is still on the campaign trail for next term and to void the maximum terms, then it will be Mrs. Obama´s terms and so on… welcome to south american style of governance

  • […] Global Voices Online » Egypt: No Accolades for Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize […]

  • Lucy Daily

    Shows just how little these commentators know about America. Everything they are accusing him of was done LONG before he became president and by someone else. How many decades has Egypt been under the rule of a dictator now? People too cowardly lift a finger against a despot who has driven the most magnificent civilization in the history of human kind into a third world cesspool, have no room to talk about any democratically elected president. You are just jealous because we don’t have to pay bribes to government officials to get our electricity turned on and get a driver’s license.

  • […] blogosphere unloads on the Peace president October 10, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments The butcher of Iraq and Afghanistan (and Pakistan) has won the Nobel Peace prize. Congratulations! [Mabrouk!] It’s a great day for […]

  • Jennifer Mc Cleary

    I understand that as a world leader you will receive the blunt end of the critical stick. And I understand that as a new, young, and black president, O’bama will receive a lot of criticism for his actions or lack thereof. What we must remember is that O’bama didn’t start the wars in Iraq and Afganistan. He was placed into a presidency that was fraught with conflict and termoil; situations that are not easy to escape. As an outsider, I cannot begin to understand the suffering and death that the Iraqi and Afghani people have faced. The travisties and atrocities of the “war against terrorism” has caused hundreds of thousands of unnessicary deaths on both sides, and it was all because of George Bush’s ignorant and one-sided views of the world and how he believed the world should function. I neither agreed with nor condoned Bush’s actions in this respect.We must remember that the Nobel Peace Prize is not only about action, it’s also about promoting the idea of peace. Critics speak of O’bama’s young age, inexperience, and lack of action as reason’s for his undeserved awarding. However, none realize that Martin Luther King recieved the award in 1964 at the age of 35 for promoting an IDEA of peace between the races in particular, and all people in general. And to O’bama’s defense, little can be done, in terms of peace, in 10 days, let alone 9 months. People seldom realize that doors were opened for peacful discussions when O’bama took office, a task that was lacking in the Bush administration. And further, none was as surprised as O’bama himself.
    “To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize… But I also know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it’s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.”
    According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the award is to be given “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” Our armies have reduced in Iraq and our doors are now open to peace. The process to peace is a long and arduous road but it is my hope, and Nobel’s hope, that O’bama will bring it to fruition.

  • […] out Egypt: No Accolades for Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize to see my micro-fame from […]

  • Phil Donnelly

    great discussion. I’m pleased Pres Obama won this prize because he seems willing to inform himself & speak about differrent sides in conflict. I too abhor these wars in Iran & Afghanistan and think Obama is the best hope to bring them to a close. However I’m pleased to see hin itoo from bloggers all round the world

  • Dawood

    I think he deserved this award so far, whole world became more optimistic after his election and couple of international visits…

    ..check notable tributes and quotes on Barack Obama from famous peers: http://www.tributespaid.com/quotes-on/barack-obama

  • Barbara Jane Sowak

    OP-ED

    The Nobel Peace Prize: Obama’s Noblesse Oblige

    Self-proclaimed Idealist Barack Obama has ensured that 30,000 more troops will enter
    Afghanistan. Obama has referred to “wars of necessity” within the context of his
    ideology, but I am not sure how he would clarify that definition re: Afghanistan. Quite
    frankly, having considerably studied international politics and diplomacy, I am one who
    believes the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama too soon, as a kind of “noblesse
    oblige” whereby it has been ASSUMED he is “going to do this” and is “going to achieve
    that”, “this and that” being metaphors for perfectly appropriate, diplomatically
    benevolant behaviour. These expectations regarding the first African American President
    have been written in stone, perhaps even before Obama won the presidency; and Obama’s
    ethnic minority status is now being used as a caricature for prospective peace-to-be in
    this century.

    While Mr. Obama will never possess a diplomacy that is as rigid as the Cheney-Bush
    administration (one hopes) neither has he resolutely stepped up to the plate so far. I
    base this upon the current state of international affairs as they relate to the United
    States, and upon the most recent presidential approval rating. It should be noted
    however, that in any case, Mr. Obama entered the current presidency with a huge weight
    placed upon slender shoulders, and it could not be expected that immense global
    challenges could be rendered obsolete within one year’s time.

    It is clear that Mr. Obama now has even more of a burden of expectation in view of his
    NPP status. He is now a member of that most exclusive club. I suggest that
    internationally, Mr. Obama must determine how to solve the Iran and N. Korea “problems”,
    re-gain some semblance of trust between the United States and all of the Middle East,
    become convinced that Canada is not striving to become more realist regarding oil
    defence,(Stephen Harper’s Canada First Defence Strategy) and ensure that the European
    Union nations, China and India will remain friends in trade as opposed to deficiencies to
    the U.S. Moreover, Mr. Obama has to think domestically, of how to turn around George W’s
    deficit, and how to best resolve the complex education, immigration, healthcare and other
    fiscal-political problens that reveal far less than a domestic “peace” at home.

    My opinion, therefore, is that the Nobel Peace Prize was granted in view of Mr. Obama’s
    persona and his rhetoric – but being a new kind of symbol for hope and having glorious
    presence such as Martin Luther King had, do not alone ensure that things get done. I
    would have preferred to have seen the state of the world at the end of Mr. Obama’s first
    term, if not his last, but as Martin Luther King himself said, Mr. Obama has now seen
    that “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and
    convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Indeed, time
    will tell whether or not Barack Obama fits more completely into the still loose folds of
    the Nobel Peace Prize monument of hope.

    Barbara J. Sowak

    University of Alberta, Canada
    Political Science

    • masihi banda

      Barbara

      What do they teach you at the University of Alberta these days, racism? You don’t know what you are talking about. Your praise of Bush and Cheney is pathetic: it shows you do not comprehend what damage they caused to the world and to the United States. Much of ungodly mess that Obama has inherited came from neo-nazi Republican agendas. Mr. Obama is trying his level best to solve some serious problems the previous administration left on his doorsteps. And I believe he is doing a marvelous job.
      It’s a glorious time for the Americans and the world that we have elected a president of African-American descent. It’s a testament that we have the greatest democracy in the world. I know for sure nothing like that has happened in Canada yet. The US was first to be blessed with this kind of opportunity.
      Mr. Obama is gifted, intelligent, and politically smart beyond his years. We the Americans are so proud to have a leader like him. He is a man of peace not a thug like Bush or Cheney who single handily destroyed our credibility in the world. Mr. Obama is left to restore and control the damage the Republicans caused. I have faith that he would do a good job and bring back honor and peace to the world. His tireless efforts to restore peace deserve him the honor of Nobel peace prize. God bless America!

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