Do you think winners like him discredit the award overall? Not sure what the deal with Obama was but I know Kissinger was an absolute fuck
Do you think winners like him discredit the award overall? Not sure what the deal with Obama was but I know Kissinger was an absolute fuck
The timing of Obama’s award was very bizarre because he was approving all of the drone strikes in Pakistan at the very same time he was winning that award. There was never a war with pakistan, those drone strikes were surely in violation of international law and certainly not peaceful, and some of them blew up wedding processions and whatnot, killing children and women and random men who were not at all involved in any kind of violence.
It was somewhat surreal to read the newspapers at the time. I think many Democrats loved him because he was well spoken and not horrible, and the Republicans who hated him already hated him, so maybe not that many people were interested in discussing why he got this award that he didn’t deserve.
He won the prize before even entering office. At the time, most Norwegians believed that Thorbjørn Jagland, head of the committee, was infatuated with Obama and his campaign and just orchestrated a win for him so they could meet. Officially he won because his campaign had been so unifying or some nonsense like that.
I’m pretty sure Obama hated it, because it put him in a very awkward spot. Both he and everyone else knew it was premature to receive it before having done anything, but it wouldn’t look good to decline it either.