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> You could see he was "their man" because they somehow arranged to get him a Nobel Peace Prize for, apparently, nothing.

I have to admit that was weird, but I think a lot of people really thought Obama was going to turn things around for the nation and the rest of planet. Bush Jr. had a whole lot of people all across the globe very concerned about America. Some saw him as an idiot, and/or a literal war criminal, and he had pushed the US in some very dark directions. Suddenly America was doing some very very un-American™ things aggressively and right out in the open. Torture, preemptive war, voter suppression, direct interference with the media, the stripping away of civil liberties, increasingly oppressive/nationalistic rhetoric, he was basically the warm-up act to Trump's administration.

All the worry over the fast decline of America is why Obama's hope/change message went over so well. If Biden had been almost anyone else he probably would have been given awards one for saving the world from more Trump, but I don't think anyone had high expectations for Biden whereas the world was basically begging Obama to bring integrity and stability back to the US.

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It was way beyond weird. You give somebody a legitimate Nobel prize after they actually do a thing, not just because you HOPE they will do some unspecified thing.

So, no, the fix was definitely in. "I'll be your President, but I expect a Nobel, and quick."