Obama admin rebuked Norway over "Fawning" Nobel peace prize

[kpete]

Obama administration rebuked Norway over Nobel peace prize, diplomat says
• President's chief of staff scolded diplomat over 'fawning' award
• Diplomat describes day as his 'most embarrassing at the UN'

Barack Obama's administration rebuked Norway after he won the 2009 Nobel peace prize, saying it was an awkward honour for an as-yet untested leader, a Norwegian diplomat revealed on Thursday.

"My most embarrassing day at the UN, at the time when I was Norway's ambassador there, was when Obama's Nobel peace prize was announced. Nobody was talking about it," said Morten Wetland, who served at the UN from 2008 to 2012.

"My colleague in Washington received a reprimand from Obama's chief of staff [Rahn Emmanuel, at the time]. The word 'fawning' was used," Wetland added in an article in Norwegian daily Dagens Naeringsliv.

The diplomat said that the prize put Obama, who was nominated for the prize just weeks after taking office, in a difficult position. "An American president wants to set his own agenda. Here he was forced into a role that he hadn't sought," Wetland said. "It could seem like somebody did this to make Obama visit the country."




MORE:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/15/obama-nobel-peace-prize-norway-rebuke-war

[exboyfil]

1. I remember criticizing the decision at

the time and getting heat on this board. Obama is a vast improvement over the previous occupant, but he did not deserve the prize then and has done little to deserve it now. He still has three years, and he wound down Iraq and moving that way towards Afghanistan. He might yet deserve it.

[Maedhros]

13. ...and drastically ramped up drone operations in Pakistan and Yemen

and increased the number of military operations in Africa by 265%. Not so peaceful.

[FiveGoodMen]

2. "Here he was forced into a role that he hadn't sought"

Man of peace.

[pampango]

3. I wish that news had come out before. Many conservatives (and a few DU'ers) have made fun

of Obama's winning that Nobel peace prize.

[FiveGoodMen]

6. He accepted it and didn't live up to it. (And should have)

How is the criticism NOT justified?

[Demeter]

7. + Several Brazillion!

"No thank you" would have been polite.

Bad-mouthing the Norwegians because one looks like an ass for taking a peace prize and not delivering on it is just....beyond rude and tacky. We don't have words for it.

[Jackpine Radical]

14. Thank you for putting into words the inchoate feelings I was experiencing

as I read through this thread.

[Jim Lane]

19. A public berating would have been rude and tacky, but this was apparently private.

It's become public now only because a Norwegian diplomat chose to share with all the world what someone in the Obama administration intended to be much more limited.

[Demeter]

24. Your point?

Since anything can be made public at any point....the polite thing is:"If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all"---Thumper's mother.

[Jim Lane]

29. Thumper's mother oversimplified

An axiom that's touted to volunteers in the Sierra Club is: "Praise publicly, criticize privately." That's what the Obama people did here. I don't agree with suppressing all criticism. (Of course, there are times when even private criticism doesn't get the job done and you have to go public, but this wasn't one of them.)

[pampango]

8. 'The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced the award on October 9, 2009, citing Obama's promotion of

nuclear nonproliferation and a "new climate" in international relations fostered by Obama, especially in reaching out to the Muslim world."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Nobel_Peace_Prize

I am not sure that he would have gained anything by showing the Nobel committee up. He had been in office for 9 months and had plans that might not have been helped by publicly refusing the award.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. He had plans to ratchet UP the involvement in Afghanistan

which he announced in his Peace Prize acceptance speech.

[arely staircase]

26. but a damm good president

Which is what he was elected and reelected to be.

[Cha]

18. I'm thinking President Obama didn't want to diss the committee so he accepted it and gave

the money to charity of course.

Yeah, there's the fucking "drones" but he goes the Peaceful route when it's possible while trying to protect us.. and I for one appreciate that.

[reformist2]

4. I have to admit, I LOL'ed the day the news was announced.

I knew the Repugs were going to have a field day with it - and for the first time I thought they had every right to!

[m-lekktor]

5. yup he seemed surprised as everybody else about receiving it at the time.

it put him on the spot.

[Jackpine Radical]

15. Don't they circulate lists of nominees before the award?

I should think the Obama Administration would have had an opportunity to quietly withdraw his name from consideration before things went too far.

Berating the Norwegians in the aftermath is pretty tacky.

[Codeine]

23. The nomination list is not revealed for 50 years. nt

[Rex]

10. He won the NPP for not being another George Bush.

I think the world breathed a collective sigh of relief.

[struggle4progress]

12. +

[okaawhatever]

30. +100 nt

[Uncle Joe]

31. That's my take on it as well. n/t

[War Horse]

33. My take as well, as a Norwegian

In some respects certainly he got it for "not being Bush".

Don't get me wrong, I like Obama, and I also breathed a huge sigh of relief when Bush was gone.

But I also felt a bit embarrassed as a Norwegian when Obama was awarded the prize. "For what?", was a pretty common question around here. "What on Earth has he done to deserve this?" And Obama is well liked here, please don't get me wrong.

My feeling is that is was kind of a "preemptive" thing. Or wishful thinking, or whatever. I have a lot of respect for some members of the Nobel committee, but collectively they sometimes seem incredibly naive.

It kind of reminds me of this: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1994/

100 % well meant, it was a risky thing to do, and understandable in many, many ways. But in hindsight it didn't really accomplish much.

[JI7]

11. i can understand why they gave it but i don't think they should have

[rudolph the red]

20. They didn't

[Demo_Chris]

16. Man of Peace...

I'd post pictures of Obama's shredded children (aka "Future Terrorists&quot but some might find that offensive or traumatic.

[Cha]

22. Your obvious hate always makes you overplay your hand and you end up looking

with fabrications when instead you could make a decent point.

[Demo_Chris]

25. That is in your mind. I could hardly have been milder withoit endorsing the actions...

Bush, sick fuck that he was, at least had an excuse beyond imaginary WMDs for his wars. He was, in fact, eliminating one of most twisted and evil dictators on the planet, and it did, in fact, launch a wave of Democratic reform in the middle east. We don't talk about that because he was on the other team (and nowhere near as charismatic), but there's a reason basically everyone in Washington including both Clintons (as well as notable leftists like Hitchens) supported the actions. What's Obama's excuse for keeping it going and what's your excuse for giving him a pass? We aren't killing dictators now, we are killing and mutilating children, and for no reason anyone can work out in countries we have never actually declared war on.

If my great crime is anger, yours is partisanship that has smothered not only your vision, but your morals.

[arely staircase]

28. going there, huh

He is actually worse than Bush?

[Cha]

34. Yeah, there's no ignorant hate there. His posts say everything about him

and nothing about the President.

[LordGlenconner]

32. I wouldn't call it hate

It's more like melodrama and this performance in the above post is Oscar worthy (or whatever the web equivalent would be).

[Cha]

35. I would because I know this poster's history.. his posts have been hidden before bc of

the ugliness.

[arely staircase]

27. obama won. get over it. nt

[MisterP]

17. oh, like the WH'd give up on getting a pass for 4-8 years "cause he's so kool"

[Cha]

21. Oh right.. like President Obama gets a pass and doesn't work hard for the accomplishments

of his Admin.