[jacquesm]

> It would be an amazing insight into the corrosive influence of Washington on a person's integrity.

That's going on the assumption that he had integrity in the first place and I'm no longer immune to considering the possibility that he did not and just played the voters for all it was worth.

For instance: someone with integrity would have returned an un-deserved Nobel peace prize.

[karmelapple]

Really? That seems very disrespectful to the Nobel committee to me.

[jacquesm]

No, what the Nobel committee did was disrespectful to all those that won that prize for good reasons.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Nobel_Peace_Prize

Quoting "Obama said he was "surprised" and "deeply humbled" by the award. He stated that he does not feel he deserved the award,[14][15] and that he did not feel worthy of the company the award would place him in."

So if that was his stance he should have refused.

[bennyg]

Everybody says that though.

[jacquesm]

But usually I don't agree with it, in Obama's case I do.

It's not as if he brought lasting peace to some place that's been on fire for the last 3 decades, besides the prize was awarded way too early in his first term for him to have time enough to accomplish such a thing in the first place (after only 9 months).

My personal view on this is that he mostly received it because he wasn't Bush and they were trying to shame him into doing the right thing (which may have had a point) but I don't think that worked out too well.

[late2part]

Good. They awarded the peace prize to a man who doesn't honor peace. Shame on the Nobel committee.

[HillaryBriss]

The official reason was: "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/

The big international war issue from 2003 to 2008 was the US invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Enter Barack Obama, a candidate who campaigns vigorously on trying to get America out of Iraq and trying to limit or even undo some of the damage America inflicted on itself during that war (not to mention Iraq and its people).

Things have not gone all that well. But, when I imagine what would have happened if McCain had been elected, I conclude that things would have gone even worse.

What other candidate was pushing as vigorously for de-escalating and militarily disengaging from Iraq as Obama was? Hillary Clinton??

Where would we be on this particular issue if Senator Obama had not decided to run for president -- if he had just left it all to the existing establishment candidates?

Is this a bad analysis of the situation?

[marak830]

I dont necessarily disagree with your reasoning, but in short he received it because h wasnt as bad as the other guy would have been?

I dont see how he should have gotten it personaly.