HALPERIN'S TAKE: Why Awarding Obama the Peace Prize Is Shocking News
Barack Obama's critics have long accused him of being a man of "just words," rather than concrete actions and accomplishments. The stunning decision to award him the Nobel Peace prize for, basically, his rhetoric, will almost certainly infuriate his detractors in America more than it will delight his supporters.
Conservatives in America, many of whom recently expressed joy that Obama failed on the international stage in his hands-on bid to win the Olympic games for Chicago in 2016, will denounce Obama's award as a farce. Even some neutral critics will agree that the honor seems, at a minimum, premature.
Obama has been in office less than a year, and has few tangible accomplishments deriving from the speeches he has given or the preliminary talks his young government has engaged in. And the award comes at a time in which Obama's role as a war president -- in Afghanistan -- is front and center. It isn't quite as inexplicable as Marisa Tomei's Best Supporting Actress Oscar, but it seems pretty close.
HALPERIN'S TAKE: Five ways winning the Nobel helps/hurts Obama.
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