UPDATE 4:  MORE BREAKING NOBELOBAMA NEWS!

Obama fails to win Nobel prize in economics

An excerpt from Marketwatch.com:

LONDON (MarketWatch) — In a decision as shocking as Friday’s surprise peace prize win, President Obama failed to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences Monday.

While few observers think Obama has done anything for world peace in the nearly nine months he’s been in office, the same clearly can’t be said for economics.

The president has worked tirelessly since even before his inauguration to wrest control of the U.S. economy from failed free markets, and the evil CEOs who profit from them, and to turn it over to wise, fair and benevolent bureaucrats.

From his $787 billion stimulus package, to the cap-and-trade bill, to the seizures of General Motors and Chrysler, to the undead health-care “reform” act, Obama has dominated the U.S., and therefore the global, economy as few figures have in recent years.

ORIGINAL POST:

From Reuters:

Obama is surprise winner of Nobel Peace Prize

Fri Oct 9, 2009 11:45am EDT

By Matt Spetalnick and Wojciech Moskwa

WASHINGTON/OSLO (Reuters) – Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision that honored the first-year U.S. president more for promise than achievement and drew both praise and skepticism around the world.

The bestowal of one of the world’s top accolades on a president less than nine months in office, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, was greeted with gasps of astonishment from journalists at the announcement in Oslo.

Obama said he felt humbled and unworthy of being counted in the company of the “transformative figures” of history who had won the prize.

“I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments but rather an affirmation of American leadership,” he said, speaking in the White House Rose Garden. “I will accept this award as a call to action.”

If it looks, feels, and smells like a piece from The Onion, it must be so, right?

Sadly, it’s really true….

Ken Shepherd (Bio | Archive) at Newsbusters.com has posted an article with links to an AP “man on the street” video showing initial reactions from Americans about President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize win.  Here’s an excerpt:

The Associated Press took to the streets of Washington, D.C. and Chicago this morning for reaction from everyday citizens about President Obama’s Nobel Prize win. All but one of the featured interviewees expressed at least some skepticism about the president’s worthiness to receive the award. And no, it seems none of these men (and woman) on the street are rabid right-wingers.

The video has received front-page treatment on Google News, headlined, “Video: Public Seems Skeptical of Obama’s Nobel Win.”

Click here to view the embedded YouTube video.

What President Obama ACTUALLY SAID In Response to the Nobel Peace Prize Award:

“I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee,” Obama said.  ”Let me be clear, I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

What President Obama SHOULD HAVE SAID In Response to the Nobel Peace Prize Award:

“I am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the Nobel Committee,” Obama said.  ”Let me be clear, I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments so far in my young presidency, and for that reason I must respectfully decline the award at this time.”

Please forgive this Designated Conservative’s language, but it must be said:

“What a self-involved, narcissistic boob we have in the office of the Presidency of the United States!”

UPDATE:

The Designated Conservative wondered what exactly did Barack Obama do in his first two weeks as President to warrant the Nobel Peace Prize? Fortunately in this Internet age, such information is at our fingertips.  Here is a week in the life of the Obama White House:

January 25: Skipped church.

January 26: Gave speech about jobs and energy. Met with Hillary Clinton. Attended Geithner’s swearing in ceremony.

January 27: Met with Republicans. Spoke at a clock tower in Ohio.

January 28: Economic meetings in the morning, met with Defense secretary in the afternoon.

January 29: Signed Ledbetter Bill overturning Supreme Court decision on lawsuits over wages. Party in the State Room. Met with Biden.

January 30: Met economic advisers. Gave speech on Middle Class Working Families Task Force. Met with senior enlisted military officials.

January 31: Took the day off.

February 1: Skipped church. Threw a Super Bowl party.

If you want to know the rest, here’s a link to his first full 12 days of activities:

http://covertress.blogspot.com/2009/10/onion-obama-wins-nobel-peace-prize-by.html

UPDATE 2:

Breaking News Alert!  President Obama wins more awards:

UPDATE 3:

Newsweek has already come out on their website in defense of President Obama’s worthiness to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.  The following comes to us via Newsbusters.com:

Newsweek has a blog called “The Gaggle.”  I’ll skip the tired jokes about how I didn’t know either, and just get to the main point: Ben Adler and Daniel Stone, writers for this blog, are defending the Nobel Prize Committee’s choice of President Barack Obama as the 2009 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

As you can see, not much is needed in the way of extra humor.

Here are the reasons they give for President Obama’s worthiness:

• President Obama will most likely be remembered as the greatest civil-rights hero since Martin Luther King Jr., because he won the presidency.
• His platform was one of multilateralism and foreign engagement – at times, to the left of some of his own party members.
• He worked in the Senate with Senator Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) on preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
• He has given some really awesome speeches in Philadelphia (the race speech), Berlin (huge crowd!), and at the last two Democratic conventions.

No, really; those are the reasons they cite.