No, Paul, the luster came off when it was given to the active leader of an active terrorist organizaton - Yasser Arafat. Now he has been further corrupted by awarding it to a man who had een in office but about two weeks when he was nominated. If the self proclaimed President of the World had a shred of integrety he would refuse the award and maybe even chastise the Committee for daring to even nominate him.

Paul's right. This award doesn't make much sense.
But instead of the Heisman coming next, it may be a Gold Glove. My first thought after hearing the Nobel news also was, what for? Because I spend too much time thinking about baseball, my next thought was Rafael Palmeiro, who received a Gold Glove in 1999 after playing 28 games at first base (and 135 at designated hitter). Things didn't turn out so well for him. Let's hope Obama does better -- perhaps starting with changing his mind and turning down the peace prize until he actually earns it.

totally agree, Obama has done nothing and his party-controlled congress continues to work against the better interests of the American people. a more appropriate award would have been an Oscar, but that too is probably in the works .

Not NO, but HELL NO.

Apparently some of our regular political cartoonists agree as well. We're going to be creating a new photo gallery of cartoons on this subject. Look for it on our "Opinion" page.
One just moved from Tom Toles of the Washington Post.
I'm also including one from Jeff Danziger of the New York Times News Syndicate.
Lisa Benson of the Washington Post Writers Group has moved one as well. I'm sure the conservative Michael Ramirez from Creators Syndicate will be all over this as well.

I agree that the Nobel committee went fishing on this one. I hope that time will prove them correct. Our President is going to need a lot of help from the gaggle we refer to as "World Leaders". Evolution always seems to be trashed by leadership using the death option to stay in power. At home and abroad. Perhaps a voice from the past was in the wrong century? "Speak softly and carry a big stick " may still work. I hope.

Your paper endorsed him alright, for what unknown reason I can not glean. However, if you call the job he has done respectable then we have no more to talk about. He more then doubled the deficit created by the Democrat Congress in Bush's last year in office. And he has added far more to the debt then anyone ever has.

Respectable job, if you are a statist, collectivist or socialist of one stripe or another, then yes, he has done a respectable job of dismantling our Constitution. But a respectable job representing this country? I don't think so.

I am seeing something amazing going on. The main stream media, including most of the editorial staff at the PD is starting to turn on their Golden Boy.

Suddenly, after over a year of proclaiming that the (former) junior senator from IL could do no wrong and blatantly ingoring any and all flaws, while lauding him at every turn, refusing to do ANY investigation into who and what he is, the smoke seems to be clearing and the gleem from his smile is no longer blnding the press.

Why did it take so long for you guys to stop doing nothing but sing his praises and start looking at what he has done, or is doing, and asking "What the heck is going on with him?"

Personally, I think it is the prgmatism of business. The MSM is seeing its veiwers shrinking and that We the People are not as enamoured of the fringe left as the editors are. So now they are cynically following the lead of that font of all eeee-vvviilll - Fox - and daring to question their annointed one.

The 'Beer Summit' pretty much locked it up for him. Solved race relation problems in this country with beer and peanuts.

One pundit said he was surprised at the award, given that Obama has not yet killed all that many people, unlike Theodore Roosevelt and Wilson, for example. But give him time to grow into the office -- there still are some Iraqis, Afghanis, Pakistanis, Palestinians (by proxy), and Iranians (a whole new fertile field) left for him to work his magic on.

Joe N.Cal is correct, predominant left wing media is just now starting to ask any real questions of this admin and their cronies, questions prior to the election that were intentionally ignored.

It took almost 8 years for voters to believe they made a mistake supporting President Bush but just 8 months for voters to know they made a mistake. There is no way he deserves this attention. The Nobel prize is now in the ranks with "student of the week. Perhaps Michelle should have a bumper sticker made."

Very good post. I agree 100%.

"There is none so blind as those who will not see".

Well, if barry could be elected pResident of the U.S., then WHY NOT the Nobel Peace Prize. He deserves both, equally (not).

I think the entire world has turned into "Saturday Night Live". How else to explain this idiocy?

So you guys are essentially saying Obama hasn't done anything for peace and a lot of his detractors say he isn't any good at war, so what is he good at? Neutrality?

It isn't possible that Obama heard he was in the running for the Nobel and because of that held back on the 40,000 troops requested for Afghanistan until the votes were counted - nah, that's not possible. That's something that only a super slick, egotistical politician would even think about...hmmm. Somebody will accuse Obama of this, but it won't be me.

Now one more thing Obama has in common with Jimmy Carter.

I tend to agree with Paul's column. Some luster IS taken off the Nobel Prize when less-than-a-year of fumbling around can bag it for a pol! Even a U.S. president. The prize should be based on accomplishments over time, not the mere political machinations of a good politician based on a few months observation. The Nobel Committee should know better.

Fortunately it is up to the Nobel committee to choose from the candidates for their own prize. They choose from a large pool, and do so with consideration for all the canditates, along with active deliberation among their group, as well as advice from their peers. I'm sure they put a lot more thought into it than the thought put into most of the comments I'm reading here.

Obama has had nothing but naysayers and negative comments from so many that it makes one wonder why he took this job. So let's give this man some credit. He took on a sinking ship, the world had been turned against America, the economy was in shambles, Right wing accusors have all but demanded his head a la a coup. So when a foreign country saw how he single handedly turned world opinion around with his return to sane principals like following the Geneiva Court rulings, they are delighted as we should also be.

Unfortunately I was up late last night and saw the breaking news that Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. First thing that came to mind was for what??? After flipping between most of the news channels they were also saying it was a bit premature. Two wars are still being fought, we are looking at increasing our troops in Afghanistan, Iran has a new nuclear plant, and we still are dealing with North Korea issues. He has been in office for 8 months and these are issues we were dealing with before he became President. Nothing has changed. Why don't we give the award to every Miss America contestant who has stated that she wants peace in our world. Words are not action.

Breaking News... President Obama just awarded the World Series MVP for 2009 and 2010 Playboy Playmate of the year!
I guess being the President is like Little League Base Ball. You can be the worse player (President) on the worse team (His Administration) and still get a trophy. Now I get it!
The Nobel Peace Prize is a Joke.
The worse American Leader you are the better chance you have in winning.

This award is unfortunate because it seems to be more about what he might do rather than what he has done. Comparing Pres Obama to, say, Mother Teresa or Martin Luther King is almost insulting. I do hope that someday he will be deserving of the award. But this is very disappointing. I decided to read the PD on this because I figured there would be some explaination considering the liberal nature of the paper. But even the PD is scratcher their collective heads. I support the president and do feel the mood is better now than 12 months ago (although the results aren't any different). But...give Pres Obama a chance to get results before you award him such high praise.

Nice article, (even though I disagree that Obama has shown any sense in his first nine months of office), but bad English. Criteria is plural, not singular. It should have been, "...if that was the CRITERION," (or in the plural sense: if THOSE WERE the CRITERIA). Come on, Paul, you can do better than that. Anyway, other than being a grammar Nazi, good article. It appears that Oslo has greatly cheapened the prize.

Thank you. I appreciate it. I was too hasty as well. Correction made

I must admit my surprise to read an article in the Press Democrat with such candor.
Mr. Gullixson made his position clear, and I agree with him. I'd like to see our president actually do something that is good for all of us instead of just his extremist base.

Yes, Obama has had plenty of naysayers. And some seem to be using this Nobel as an attack against him personnally. Frankly, if the worst thing this president does over his term in office is win the Nobel Peace Prize, we're in pretty good shape.
The criticism here belongs to the members of the Nobel committee. They seem to be giving Obama this prize primarily because his last name is not Bush.

My vote would be for Greg Mortenson of Three Cups of Tea. My, that money would have gone a long way for him promoting peace through education. He atleast has done something instead of said something.

A liberals blush begets the rush to leave the bus with the rest of us.

Yes, the Committee does need a spanking for it, Paul. The former junior senator from IL needs one for accepting it.

And you, sir, and most of the rest of the 4th estate, need a collective spanking for pretty much whoring for him for a year and NOT doing a proper job of reporting on his past, his policies, and his stance on everything. While at the same time heaping bile and viriol on McCain. In fact, all y'all were playing it as if the junior senator from IL was running against Bush - who was not in the race at all. Or that his direct opponent was Gov. Palin, whom you and your fellow reporters treated with scorn and ridicule almost from the moment she was announced as Sen. McCains running mate. Granted, he actily courted you and your fellow wordsmiths. But you could have stood your ground and done a proper job.

Is it any wonder that those of us who had actually read what the fromer junior senator from IL had written, check his voting record, and done some research were wondering if we were lookitng at the same person you were? And then kept touting like talkers at the carni after he took office.

Is it any wonder that after you and your comrades in print spent 8 years of climbing all over Pres. Bush (and you rarely had the courtesy to refer to him that way - it was usually Mr. Bush. And 3/5 of the editorial cartoons seemed to show him as a chimp) for every slip of the tongue, to see you suddenly change the rules and declare that his flatus was as rare frankincense and attaar of roses, and any criticism of Dear Leader was met with shouts of "Racist" or "NAZI" that some of us are less than thrilled with him and his public image?

I am so proud and glad that Obama won the Nobel Prize.
There are things in the works that will shame the nay-sayers, and it's not surprising that people like Limbaugh have sided with the Taliban and Al Quaeda in decrying this decision. It tells me who the real Americans are: the ones who voted last November for change. Change is coming even if some people won't get out of the way.

Obama has achieved something remarkable in his short time in office. He has defused intense Muslim animosity toward America, primarily through a deft diplomatic initiative in Egypt; he has reduced the Cold War rhetoric that reemerged during the past decade; and he has instilled hope that the world might overcome the racial and class divides that plague our planet.
If the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama comes as a surprise to Mr. Gullixson, perhaps this is more a commentary on his insulation and isolation from the aspirations of people outside the United States and a deep yearning of the world's citizenry to move beyond the hostilities and unneeded animosities that America has fermented over the past decades.
As further evidence that this is indeed the case, the primary credulity over President Obama receiving this award comes from inside America, not the other countries of the world. Perhaps this is more an occasion for Mr. Gullixson to take some time off than it is some perceived error on the part of the Nobel Prize judges as this misguided editorial shows some failures of sensitivity and global awareness.
Gullixson clearly is not alone in this bias. An interesting comparison can be done by reviewing world opinion on this award and seeing the divide between it and national opinion.
This comment is not a blanket endorsement of the president's policies, but it is a recognition that he is touching the pulse of foreign leaders and ordinary citizens in a way that has not happened in this country. If someone doesn't grasp this, then perhaps a visit to the cities of Europe or the Middle East would be helpful because they certainly discern something that is missing in the politicized and often superficial mentality that passes for astuteness in this country.
With all this in mind, yes, President Obama does deserve to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The task of providing new vision can bring peace and hope even if that peace has not yet been achieved.

From a provincial perspective Paul G. has a point. In the bigger picture, however, Obama has in fact done a great deal by changing both America's image AND its policies: he relaid the foundation for cooperation with Western allies; he repositioned America to lead on global human rights by among other steps discarding the official sanction of torture; he retook the baton for international disarmament and decreasing the enormous sums spent on arms; and he reached out to 23% of the world's population that is Muslim and was largely alienated by his predecessor. These were not trivial accomplishments in a nation riven by self-indulgent partisanship -- the Nobel committee recognized that peace comes closer within reach when the leader of the world's most powerful nation takes the initiative to frame the agenda for international cooperation.

In the words of the great newspaper man, H.L. Mencken, "The only way a reporter should look at a politician is down.'

Now Obama gets a Special Olympics Nobel Prize. He should be embarrassed and ashamed by being awarded this "honor." If he had any integrity, he would refuse it. He is becoming a risible figure thanks to his friends on the left and the kneepad media. But I repeat myself.

When Bishop Desmond Tutu was given the Nobel Peace Prize, South Africa was still under apartheid. Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest for opposing a dictatorship that is still in power. The Nobel Peace Prize isn't always an achievement award. Sometimes the Nobel committee uses the Peace Prize as a way of bestowing political capital on worthy causes. It appears that this is the committee's intention here. President Obama has gotten some forward momentum on nuclear disarmament and peace in the Middle East. The Nobel Peace Prize should help him get more traction on these issues. The Prize is also an acknowledgement that U.S. foreign policy has returned to real diplomacy after almost a decade of exceptionalism and unilateralism. This is a great day for America!

Maybe already mentioned, but bears repeating, is that nominations were due no later than 11 days after Bama was inaugurated. Wow, what an astounding 11 days that must have been... did he walk on water and turn water into wine? Or maybe it was all that community organizing in Chicago that evidenced his contributions to worldwide peace.

And who, Mr. Gullixson, gave the directives to the Secretary of State? She did not, would not, nor should not act on her own.
I assume you wrote this early this morning and hadn't listened to the reasons President Obama was given the award.
After 8 shameful years of the Bush administration you should be thrilled that our allies are showing their love for the U.S. and if this award nudges him to really pursue peace (which we haven't seen in 5 generations), we will all be the better for it.

the Nobel committee did Obama no favor; foreign policy success, if it ever occurs, comes slowly and now his every move subject to ridicule (hey, how come our peace prize winner can't deliver peace!!)

But the nobel Nobel committee hurt themselves too; it clearly was going to give the prize to any Democrat who happened to get elected--their motiavtion to tweak Bush.

it might have been okay for Obama to accept, ...but to actually go and receive it!! That indicates he actually beleives he has accomplished anything...

Yes, the Heisman Trophy has more credibility .... and congrats to Paul for laying out the bad news firmly but gently to Obama's fans...

Our planet and the U.S. is in big trouble if "not my president" muslim Obama is the best they can come up with.

I wish George Bush would have won the Nobel for serving our country for 8 years as a great president who was promoting peace around the world. Maybe Dick Cheney? another one of our great leaders.