Obama

Langsta

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So, Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his promotion of worldwide diplomacy and cooperation."

What has the guy actually done? He was the first black president. He won the Nobel Peace Prize. But I can't really think of anything he's done in between those two things that makes him deserving of the Nobel freakin' Peace Prize. He's not MLK JR. He's not Nelson Mandela.

And isn't the Nobel Peace Prize supposed to be awarded to people who have done something to prevent violence? Things haven't improved in Afghanistan or Iraq, in fact they've gotten worse. He hasn't done anything he said he was going to do, all he's done is talk about doing it.

"That's pretty amazing, winning the Nobel Peace Prize," Jay Leno said Friday night of President Barack Obama's latest accolade. "Ironically, his biggest accomplishment as president so far ... winning the Nobel Peace Prize."

That joke may be indicative of the TV comedy world sharpening its arrows a bit more when the current occupant of the White House is the target, The New York Times reports.

President Barack Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

The Times quotes Bob Lichter, who has tracked themes in late-night humor for 21 years, as saying "it will be telling to see how the comedians treat" the president's winning the peace prize: Is there now a caricature taking hold of a man more celebrated than accomplished?

Lichter, of George Mason University's Center for Media and Public Affairs, said it was too soon to tell whether the Oct. 3 Saturday Night Live skit suggesting that Obama has accomplished nothing is a "harbinger" or not. "The danger is that Mr. Obama is going to be defined by inaction and not living up to expectations," he said.

SNL skit: Obama has done nothing

SNL this weekend joined in the jokes about Obama not deserving the prize just yet, suggesting that honors like People's Sexiest Man designation may soon go to children.

Last week Jon Stewart continued with the "done nothing" theme on The Daily Show, chiding Obama for not yet getting around to reversing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy about gays. He cited Obama's "full plate" of business.

Stewart then acted apoplectic, displaying his exasperation. "All that stuff you've been putting on your plate?" he said. "It's [expletive] chow time, brother. That's how you get things off your plate."

Ric Keller, a former Republican congressman from Florida who once wrote jokes for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, told the Times: "There have been some clear shots coming across the bow from the comic left."

But Jeff Nussbaum, a Democratic speech and joke writer, disagreed that late-night comedy is a leading indicator of the zeitgeist. "To use an economic term, it is more of a lagging indicator," he said.

Those old enough to remember Watergate might recall that it took Johnny Carson awhile to start making jokes about President Richard Nixon and his connection to the break-in. But once the Tonight show host did, it felt like the beginning of the end for the U.S. leader who eventually resigned.

I'm thinking, it's almost 2012....They say the Antichrist is supposed to be a great leader that many people have celebrated....I bet if Obama gets re-elected and is still President by the time the end of the world comes, he's probably going to be revealed as the Antichrist.
 
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He's the foremost voice in the world on Nuclear Disarmament. That alone would make him eligible... People are making the point that he won it for not being Bush, and while there's a bit of truth in it, I think the bigger truth points to how quickly he changed perception of America around the world and healed relationships between countries that had viewed us as an enemy during the last eight years. During the transition, while he was president-elect, and during the election, he worked tirelessly to promote peace around the world... And his current foreign policy is finally reopening the door to Cuba, and allowing us to actually talk to the Taliban, Iran's government, and North Korea. He is the foremost figure in the world right now for promoting discussion before violence.

You can't fault him for not figuring a way out of Afghanistan just yet, seeing as he hasn't even been president for a year, and this is a war that has been going on since 2001.

Even Obama says it was a surprise, and that he sees it as a call to action to promote peace. This could end up being the leverage he needs to use Biden's plan for Afghanistan which means pulling out most of the troops and working with the Government and using small black ops teams and specialized units to run Al Qaeda out of the country.

I think it's a surprise, to be sure... But the Nobel Committee has said that while perhaps they came out too early, waiting to lend this type of credence to the Obama Presidency until three years from now would be much too late.

While I haven't been 100% impressed on his progress on all fronts, I don't think that's any reason to believe he won't follow through on what he hopes to accomplish. And I also don't begrudge the Nobel committee for throwing their weight behind a figure who has the potential to create lasting peace.

And I am not going to address that last bit, which I assume is a joke... Despite a frighteningly large group of people thinking otherwise.
 
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[youtube]GMJuEOaF84o[/youtube]

To summarize: winning the Nobel Peace Prize often has as much to do with intent and hope as it does with current success, and sometimes more. Bush spent eight years systematically destroying America's reputation in the world and engineering a disastrous foreign policy. When the most powerful man in the world is suddenly singing a completely different tune, it matters, regardless of what has come of it so far.
 
He's the foremost voice in the world on Nuclear Disarmament. That alone would make him eligible... People are making the point that he won it for not being Bush, and while there's a bit of truth in it, I think the bigger truth points to how quickly he changed perception of America around the world and healed relationships between countries that had viewed us as an enemy during the last eight years. During the transition, while he was president-elect, and during the election, he worked tirelessly to promote peace around the world... And his current foreign policy is finally reopening the door to Cuba, and allowing us to actually talk to the Taliban, Iran's government, and North Korea. He is the foremost figure in the world right now for promoting discussion before violence.

You can't fault him for not figuring a way out of Afghanistan just yet, seeing as he hasn't even been president for a year, and this is a war that has been going on since 2001.

Even Obama says it was a surprise, and that he sees it as a call to action to promote peace. This could end up being the leverage he needs to use Biden's plan for Afghanistan which means pulling out most of the troops and working with the Government and using small black ops teams and specialized units to run Al Qaeda out of the country.

I think it's a surprise, to be sure... But the Nobel Committee has said that while perhaps they came out too early, waiting to lend this type of credence to the Obama Presidency until three years from now would be much too late.

While I haven't been 100% impressed on his progress on all fronts, I don't think that's any reason to believe he won't follow through on what he hopes to accomplish. And I also don't begrudge the Nobel committee for throwing their weight behind a figure who has the potential to create lasting peace.

And I am not going to address that last bit, which I assume is a joke... Despite a frighteningly large group of people thinking otherwise.

I feel really bad right now because you just made a whole bunch of awesome points.
 
You can't fault him for not figuring a way out of Afghanistan just yet, seeing as he hasn't even been president for a year, and this is a war that has been going on since 2001.

Even Obama says it was a surprise, and that he sees it as a call to action to promote peace. This could end up being the leverage he needs to use Biden's plan for Afghanistan which means pulling out most of the troops and working with the Government and using small black ops teams and specialized units to run Al Qaeda out of the country.
Thanks to my US foreign policy class, I find the whole situation in Afghanistan to be absolutely terrifying. Even if we did manage to run Al Qaeda out of the country, they're not the problem. We helped embolden the Taliban and now they're becoming a much more awful threat then we'd anticipated. And history and common sense seem to be set against us ever really getting rid of them. Makes my head hurt just thinking about it.
 
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Thanks to my US foreign policy class, I find the whole situation in Afghanistan to be absolutely terrifying. Even if we did manage to run Al Qaeda out of the country, they're not the problem. We helped embolden the Taliban and now they're becoming a much more awful threat then we'd anticipated. And history and common sense seem to be set against us ever really getting rid of them. Makes my head hurt just thinking about it.

Which is why running at them with guns is probably a worse idea than trying to get them to use their base to legitimize themselves, disarm, and try to promote their ideas in a democratic way... Just like how the I.R.A. became Sinn Fean over in Ireland once they became a political group rather than a group of revolutionaries.
 
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He has been a major force in the brokering of talks between Palestinians and Israel. And he's also been a major force in bringing attention to and doing something about the escalating Iran problem. Two of the biggest problems in the world right now, and he's at the forefront in getting them taken care of.

And any article which quotes Jay Leno automatically loses credibility with me. The man appeals to the lowest common denominator; his unimaginative monologues are full of easy "jokes" that show no insight and do nothing more than contribute to common misconceptions and fears.
 
Basically what DSF said. While my first look at this news thought was "that's a bit premature" I remember during the campaign when Obama was making a speech in Germany and an incredibly huge crowd of germans were waving American flags I can't recall ever seeing something like that during Bush's presidency. So he really did change foreign policy in ways that needed to be changed and while it may be early, it's not without warrant.
 
I love and hate political threads. I love them because they usually provoke positive discussion (at least here) and I hate them because all my thoughts on the matter have not only been said by the time I got there, they've been expanded in a direction I never thought of.

Very nice points, DSF and Moonie.
 
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Also:

obamaassglance.jpg


Just thought I'd share that.
 
Sarkozy's expression is priceless.

I KNOW!

I was kinda disappointed when Rachel Maddow actually showed the video and it showed Obama's actually looking at the ground, and he was helping the girl up the steps.
 
I KNOW!

I was kinda disappointed when Rachel Maddow actually showed the video and it showed Obama's actually looking at the ground, and he was helping the girl up the steps.

Obviously Rachel Maddow edited the video to make him look better because she's a ruthless, amoral socialist lesbian!
 
Did anyone else see the news this morning about the golf course and what was carved in it.

I just looked it up and wow, what a huge waste of time and energy, seriously the guy had nothing better to do? Also anyone else a little annoy by the fact that there's a swastika and the major ignorant complaint of Obama is that he's a socialist, when Nazi and Communist are on opposite ends of the spectrum and hate each other?
 

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