| Would peer evaluation suffice? There is one peace prize winner criticized by other peace prize peers for her role in genocide. Then there is the nomination of President Obama less than two weeks in office. He received it after less than nine months in the office. The prize was seen more as criticism of Bush administration than awarding Obama. I nominate Samatha Power (Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights under Obama, then 28th United States Ambassador to the United Nations) and Cass Sustein (United States Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs) to judge Obama's Peace price. Experts from the book: "The Education of an Idealist: A Memoir" by Samatha Power >In October of 2009, I awoke to a very different form of bad news: Barack Obama had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Less than a year into his presidency, Obama was receiving an award previously bestowed on Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. >When I relayed the news to Cass, he looked stricken, as if I had told him someone we knew had fallen ill. The choice seemed wildly premature, [...] >Jon Favreau and Ben Rhodes, Obama’s two gifted speechwriters, took on the difficult task of drafting the Nobel address. I popped into Jon’s tiny office on the first floor of the West Wing, and he told me that the President had decided to directly confront the awkwardness of receiving the prize so early in his presidency. I mean, 60% of American did not understand why Obama received the award. Obama himself was not happy and felt awkward. People he worked with felt it was not deserved. |
Now you could argue that those "wrong" nominations in the last year's have tarnished the peace prize "brand" so much that is no longer valuable. I would say that is in itself somewhat premature and since it's the most political prize there will always be controversy attached.