President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on Thursday but acknowledged the questions surrounding the award.
Obama, along with first lady Michelle Obama, walked into Oslo City Hall at 1 p.m. to a trumpet fanfare and sustained applause.
“I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility,” he said. “It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations — that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.
“And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.”
Obama said his accomplishments are “slight” in comparison to previous recipients of the prize, and that other nominees may be more deserving.
“But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander in chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars,” he said.
His trip to Norway comes nine days after he announced plans to deploy additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, one of two countries where the United States is fighting a war.
In his Nobel speech, Obama expounded on the concept of “just war” and the necessity of the use of force.
“I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war,” Obama said. “What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.”
The Nobel Prize win, announced in October, elicited swift reaction. Some hailed the choice, while others questioned what Obama had accomplished to deserve it. The February 1 nomination deadline came less than two weeks after his inauguration.
The Nobel decision was less a recognition of his accomplishments and more “a call to action,” Obama said at the time.
After the ceremony, the Obamas will attend an evening award banquet. The prize includes a $1.4 million check, a gold medal and a diploma.
(Source: CNN)
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10 Responses
Um, what exactly are the criteria for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?
My favorite comment about U.S. politics is from one of the Gedolei HaDor. When asked to give his reaction to the election of President Obama, HaRav Chaim Kanievsky SHLIT”A responded: The American president is obviously a descendent of slaves. Like Hurdus (Herod, who was born a Roman slave), his tenure will be both good and bad for Klal Yisrael.
As HaRav Kanievsky SHLIT”A observed, this slave mentality governs his acceptance of a big prize he definitely does not deserve and much of what our current president does.
I say that Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize like my 15 month old grandson deserves the prize in Physics. K”H, my grandson is so brilliant it absolutely amazes me. And my grandson can do no wrong. As his grandmother I know I have a objective opinion of him.
Good thing he was able to read his teleprompter correctly. It would have been funny for him to have said, “I accept this honor with great humiliation”.
This prize shows just how meaningless the Nobel Prize really is.
Does anyone have any idea what he got the prize for? I would like to know, maybe I can try out for next year
So much for the value of a Nobel Peace Prize.
Obama sends 30k troops to fight America’s terrorists, but pressures American’s greatest ally, Israel, to give up land to Israel’s terrorists.
Showing warmth to the leaders of the part of the world that is the foundation of terroristic planning and activity, does not make one a peacemaker. It makes one a dangerous fool.
#2 – I like to think BO’s more like (the mekubal who compared him to) Achashveirosh. A – ben eved; B – one hundred eighty days of partying “Vayaas mishteh…” C – “Vayawsem Achashveirosh mahs…” -he will raise taxes. The only kasha on this pshat is who is “Vashti.” Yesh Omrim: Hillary Clinton… But that brings up a whole other set of hypotheses that cannot be published here…
The only real questions here, I believe, is who is sponsoring the “… Aseres Alawfim keekar kesef…”
MoshiachNow1, you have enuciated correctly why he received the Nobel Peace Prize. It is because of his intense hate the Jewish State of Israel.
I just really hope the commentators listed above are not representative of the frum velt.
Otherwise, how could the Am Hashem have lost all sense of respect for the President? Is this how yidn talk?
Hashem Ierachem on us.
To #9 “commonsense” – I think a president has to deserve respect to get respect.
Should Yidden have respected Antiochus? Achashvayrosh? Mussolini?