2 weeks? not so much.

ok... so I hate politics and I hate discussing politics but this whole Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize thing annoys me. I may not know much about how one wins a Nobel Prize but as a lay person, I would have to assume that one has to acutally do something, not just talk about doing things.

As was pointed out to me by a friend, Obama said he would bring the troops home from Iraq, close Guantanamo, win the war in Afganistan, stop the spread of nuclear weapons, and save the world from global warming. I'm pretty sure we're still at war in Afganistan and Iraq, Guantanamo is still up and running, talks are not going well with Iran, Pakistan or North Korea and we're still killing the planet.

But the real kicker for me and what my logic-loving brain (it's a hazard when you work for the government, let me tell you) can't fathom is that he was in office for TWELVE days. According to CNN, the application deadline was February 1st and he was inaugurated on January 20th - TWELVE days, people. And before that he was just a freshman senator who didn't even complete his term.

If you read the CNN article here, you can learn a few interesting things, particularly if you are as bad at remembering your history as me (assuming you even learned it in the first place since I never did seem to get much past the Civil War in school). You learn that we haven't had a sitting president win the Peace Prize since Wilson in 1919 (during his second term for his role in shaping the Treaty of Versailles which ended WWI) and before him Teddy Roosevelt in 1909 (his last year in office for his efforts to end the Russo-Japanese War). You also learn that they gave Gorbachev the Prize early on "in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union." He was only in office for 21 months starting in March of 1990 but had been actively involved in reform in the Soviet Union and its dissolution for many years prior to being President of the Soviet Union. Clearly all of these men had been working toward their goals for many years or had orchestrated peace by literally ending wars.

So Nobel Peace Prize committee, you may stand by your decision but what has Obama accomplished to deserve this honor? In my opinion, not a thing.

edited to add: For all those people who speculate that the Prize Committee gave it to him for "not being George W. Bush," as much as I don't think he deserves it, I sure hope not. That is not an acceptable or respectable reason for giving out the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, it's just childish. It shouldn't be about thumbing your nose at anyone no matter how you feel. It's a hard worked-for honor and he hasn't yet done the work to deserve it. Let him win when he's put forth the effort to earn it.