Legal Commentary

Good Speech, Wrong Venue

By Big Tent Democrat

President Obama's speech in Oslo is justly winning some good reviews. The problem of course is that the speech is not one that should be delivered by the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize at the awards ceremony. Jon Chait wrote:

I’m not a big fan of political speeches in general, but I thought President Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech today was unusually good. [. . .] After again acknowledging that he doesn’t really deserve the award-- [. . .] Obama set out his foreign policy worldview.

As someone who agrees with President Obama's foreign policy worldview (including his Afghanistan policy), it just is jarring to me to see the Nobel Peace Prize cheapened in this way. The Peace Prize is supposed to be for great accomplishments in advancing peace or great advocates for peace. It is rare that a President of the United states, due to the nature of the job, can even be considered for the award. It is obvious that President Obama is not worthy of the award (and I say that largely with a sigh of relief -- at this time, I do not want a President worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize.)

I again want to be clear - I think the President made the best of a bad situation. My criticism is solely directed at the Nobel Prize Committee.

speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 10, 2009 (boomark / email).