Obama should not have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. When do people win a Nobel Peace Prize for things they might do? Even Obama knows it when he said, “I will accept this award as a call to action.” Gracious, yes, but didn’t Obama say something similar when he became president?

Sorry, but graciousness cannnot substitute for results. Obama hasn’t heralded in any peace or kept any such promises:

Guantanamo Bay? Backpedaled. Restoring habeas corpus? Backpedaled. Curtailing or ending legislation and policies against civil liberty? Backpedaled.

Troop withdrawal? He is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan.

Military bases? They remain and new ones are being built.

Towards actions of peace, Obama has done nothing. Is this is the new award standard? Can I get awarded a Pulitzer Prize for journalism I might do? Should I accept it and say, “This is a call to accomplish something great in journalism?” It’d be ridiculous for me to win it and ridiculous again for me to accept it—just as it is ridiculous for Obama to win and accept a Nobel Peace Prize.

Stewart N. Thorpe
Salt Lake City