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I'm gonna go out on a limb here but...
Yes, he's spent the last 5 years trying to clean up "loose nukes" and it was ignored by the Republican Noise Machine because it was damn effective. It should have been front-and-center of his campaign, but the media ignored it.
Yes, he's brought new civility to international relations in these last 9 months.
But the real reason that I think the Norwegians gave him the award is that he successfully spent 8 years peacefully overthrowing a dictator. After 9/11 he saw Bush become a tyrant and the Republican Noise Machine give him the backing that let him retain power. He realized that this kind of tyrant wasn't going to be overthrown through a old-fashioned election, and he was against using violence. So instead he was left with one choice: pick the smartest, hardest working people, empower the grassroots, and one by one win over voters until he's won the election by a large enough margin that it couldn't be questioned.
Some people say that we need voter fraud reform to prevent 'another Florida debacle'. Well, Obama's couldn't wait, so he fought hard and make sure the margin of victory was bigger than the margin of Republican fraud.
There were many obstacles that had to be overcome to overthrow this dictator. First he had to win a Senate seat. That looked easier than it actually was. He had to win and stay clean in a town known for corruption. Then he had to overcome the powerful psychological force called "the inevitable". Convincing people to support a "presumed nominee" like Hillary Clinton was "impossible" but he did it. After overcoming that obstacle, he still had to overcome a strong negative campaign of lies from The Right. He had to overcome the racism of our country. Like a good action movie, there are always 3 obstacle between the hero and the goal, and then there is a surprise at the end that he has to contend with. This was no different. Sarah Palin appearing was a surprise which could have lead to a total defeat. Instead, his campaign smartly "fought the problem when it was small so you don't have to fight it when it is big." By discrediting her from the start, she was never able to recover. She became the joke of the year instead of the vice-president of the country. She became a dead-weight when she could have been the saviour. Lastly the world's finance system collapsed. While he kept saying "there's only one President at a time", he knew that Bush was ill-prepared for the challenge skill-wise, and already checked-out mentally. He and his people worked behind the scenes on preventing the capitol markets from collapsing.
Once officially inaugurated he traveled the world. Some said it was a victory lap, done for reasons of ego. No, it was to get face-time with world leaders to say, "Hey, Bush is out. He's gone and so are his disastrous foreign policies. Let's get back to business. There's literally a world of pain that needs to be fixed. Let it begin again... together."
That's 8 years of work that truly deserves a prize.
Yes, he's spent the last 5 years trying to clean up "loose nukes" and it was ignored by the Republican Noise Machine because it was damn effective. It should have been front-and-center of his campaign, but the media ignored it.
Yes, he's brought new civility to international relations in these last 9 months.
But the real reason that I think the Norwegians gave him the award is that he successfully spent 8 years peacefully overthrowing a dictator. After 9/11 he saw Bush become a tyrant and the Republican Noise Machine give him the backing that let him retain power. He realized that this kind of tyrant wasn't going to be overthrown through a old-fashioned election, and he was against using violence. So instead he was left with one choice: pick the smartest, hardest working people, empower the grassroots, and one by one win over voters until he's won the election by a large enough margin that it couldn't be questioned.
Some people say that we need voter fraud reform to prevent 'another Florida debacle'. Well, Obama's couldn't wait, so he fought hard and make sure the margin of victory was bigger than the margin of Republican fraud.
There were many obstacles that had to be overcome to overthrow this dictator. First he had to win a Senate seat. That looked easier than it actually was. He had to win and stay clean in a town known for corruption. Then he had to overcome the powerful psychological force called "the inevitable". Convincing people to support a "presumed nominee" like Hillary Clinton was "impossible" but he did it. After overcoming that obstacle, he still had to overcome a strong negative campaign of lies from The Right. He had to overcome the racism of our country. Like a good action movie, there are always 3 obstacle between the hero and the goal, and then there is a surprise at the end that he has to contend with. This was no different. Sarah Palin appearing was a surprise which could have lead to a total defeat. Instead, his campaign smartly "fought the problem when it was small so you don't have to fight it when it is big." By discrediting her from the start, she was never able to recover. She became the joke of the year instead of the vice-president of the country. She became a dead-weight when she could have been the saviour. Lastly the world's finance system collapsed. While he kept saying "there's only one President at a time", he knew that Bush was ill-prepared for the challenge skill-wise, and already checked-out mentally. He and his people worked behind the scenes on preventing the capitol markets from collapsing.
Once officially inaugurated he traveled the world. Some said it was a victory lap, done for reasons of ego. No, it was to get face-time with world leaders to say, "Hey, Bush is out. He's gone and so are his disastrous foreign policies. Let's get back to business. There's literally a world of pain that needs to be fixed. Let it begin again... together."
That's 8 years of work that truly deserves a prize.
