I just have to say it. President Obama?
It kind of says something about the world in general (as well as the past Administration) at this moment if default statesmanship carried out within ordinary interstate institutions seems like a major contribution to peace.
Yeah, I get it, it’s for being Not-George-Bush.
The Nobel Peace Prize kind of seems to me to need a conceptual overhaul. Make it something more like the Nobel Prize for Contributions to Democratic Civil Society or some such.
Update: Memorable quote from State Department spokesperson P.J. Crowley: “We think that this gives us a sense of momentum when the United States has accolades tossed its way rather than shoes.”
I thought Jimmy Carter got the Not-George-Bush Nobel in 2002. Or was that Al Gore’s in 2007? In retrospect, and Texascentrically, the Anan/UN prize in 2001 and the IAEA/Elbardei in 2005 can look pretty Not-George-Bush too.