But he did nothing to deserve it, is the conventional wisdom. Even Barack (Hussein) Obama is eager to second the observance. Of course not, says Geir Lundestad, the noted historian and the longtime secretary of the Nobel committee. He calls the assumption that the award has rarely anything to do with accomplishments, a myth:

Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful.

More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.

True enough. I had an opportunity to spend three months at the Oslo Nobel Institute in 1995. Then, the award was given to Pugwash and Joseph Rotblat "for their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and, in the longer run, to eliminate such arms." Needless to say, neither the organization nor the man could cite any useful achievements. Indeed, critics immediately pointed out that nuclear weapons were the reason the Cold War never turn hot. The Institute even conducted a public debate on the subject. The real aim of the Committee was to focus attention on the 50th anniversary of the invention of the bomb.

This time, Obama deserves to win. He came to power seeking to make the world a fairer place by making America poorer and weaker and in a span of 9 months has been more successful than even I would have imagined. And the committee which shares his goal is hoping that he will continue to do so in Copenhagen. In other words, I concur with John Podhoretz:

He is an American president eagerly in pursuit of legitimacy to be granted him not by those who voted for him but by those who do not cast a vote and who chafe at American leadership. It is his devout wish that America become one of many nations, influencing the world indirectly or not influencing it at all, rather than “the indispensable nation,” as Madeleine Albright characterized it.

He is the encapsulation, the representative, the wish fulfillment, the very embodiment, of the multilateralist impulse. He is, almost literally, a dream come true for the sorts of people who treasure and value the Nobel Peace Prize.

In other words, the Nobel was awarded to Obama because, unlike previous presidents, he does not work for the American people but for the people of the world as defined by the transnational elite which includes the Nobel committee. It also means that he does not work to increase global prosperity and global freedom but for more even sharing of the current pie by unaccountable Bureaucratic global institutions like the UN or the IMF. Seen in this light, it is a most astute award and it undoes all the potential good the IOC did by denying Chicago the olympics.

The 2010 elections cannot come too soon. Until then the American people including those serving abroad have no one representing their interest in the international arena.

By the way, the weaker the dollar, the greater the value of Obama's Nobel award.

Arnold Shcherban - 10/10/2009

to whom?
To US corporate elite and their sponsorees - Washington's politicians?
Definitely, so.
To the rest of the world - no, Madam Albright.
Oops! But it was indispensable to...
Taliban and Al-Qaeda... when the latter were called "freedom fighters", not "monstrous terrorists", as they are called today by the same indispensable one.
(One has to finally memorize one of the basic axioms of the US political and ideological discourse: our S.O.B.s turn out to be a monster/murderer, only when they behead us.)
Obama's Nobel Peace Prize is clearly a joke and political travesty.
However, as far as his political inclinations and goals are concerned, they are neither of liberal left, nor
of Democrat right, more like centrist.
Obama as an inexperienced amateur President (which has become quite obvious now) guided by a Clintonesque team has no other choice but gravitate to the relative safety of Democrat center, since otherwise he's afraid to be lost in the complexities of the bipartisan struggle.
This tendency and corresponding indecisiveness shows in practically all his actions: on
Afghanistan and Iraq, on health care public option, on US-Russia relations, on Palestinian-Israeli one, etc.
So, don't worry, Ms.Klinghoffer, eventually Obama will fall into political and ideological niche reserved for him by real designers of the US domestic and foreign policies - American corporate elite.