Stavanger, Norway – In a break with Nobel tradition, the former secretary of the Nobel Peace Prize committee says the 2009 award to President Barack Obama failed to live up to the panel’s expectations.
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Geir Lundestad writes in a book to be released on Thursday that the committee had expected the prize to deliver a boost to Obama. Instead the award was met with fierce criticism in the U.S., where many argued Obama had not been president long enough to have an impact worthy of the Nobel.
“Even many of Obama’s supporters believed that the prize was a mistake,” Lundestad wrote in excerpts of the book read by The Associated Press. “In that sense the committee didn’t achieve what it had hoped for.”
Lundestad, who stepped down last year after 25 years as the non-voting secretary of the secretive committee, noted that Obama was startled by the award and that his staff even investigated whether other winners had skipped the prize ceremony in Oslo.
That has happened only on rare occasions, such as when dissidents were held back by their governments.
“In the White House they quickly realized that they needed to travel to Oslo,” Lundestad wrote.
Speaking to AP on Wednesday, Lundestad said he didn’t disagree with the decision to award the president but the committee “thought it would strengthen Obama and it didn’t have this effect.”
It is rare for Nobel officials to discuss the proceedings of the secretive committee or publicly criticize each other. But in the book Lundestad also fired a parting shot at Thorbjorn Jagland who was the committee chairman for six years and is now a regular member.
Lundestad said that as a former Norwegian prime minister and sitting head of the Council of Europe human rights organization, Jagland should never have been appointed to the committee, which frequently emphasizes its independence.
Jagland declined to comment, said Daniel Holtgen, his spokesman at the Council of Europe.
He’s not a man of peace – he DIVIDED the once “United” States of America. He DIVIDED Congress the way no other President divided it in the U.S. History. OBAMA WENT TO WAR with the U.S. ALLIES including Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and made piece with all the TERRORIST STATES
The Nobel Golf Prize would have been more appropriate!
Does everyone realize the importance of this statement?
It states clearly what we knew anyway.
The Nobel Peace Peace Prize does not reward accomplishments. It is a tool for influencing future political decisions.
As such, this prize is not really an award but actually it is sort of a bribe.
But Arafats award oh that was worthty.
And the blowhard in chief was convinced he was awarded the prize on his merits.
While its impressive and commendable that this man now admits the truth, it is certainly shameful that the Nobel committee even thought to give the prize to such an unworthy, all in an effort to prove how open minded non-racist they are. Not only did he bring no peace to any part of the world (on the contrary, Isis was borne on his watch, and al Qaeda and other terror groups thrived under his watch, not to mention what he has done for Iran with his disastrous deal, etc.), but he has wrought havoc on the entire world! They should demand he return the prize!
It was idiotic to give Obama the Peace Prize before he accomplished anything. It further diminished the Prize, which once meant something.
great
this should prove once and for all that this prize is meaningless and not worth the paper it is written on,and is really just a manipulative tool
Nobel Peace prize is a joke! They gave to Arafat too! What kind of peace have we seen before the prize or after giving him the prize?
Strengthen Obama? The US President (even a bad one) doesn’t need help from a corrupt, ultra-liberal organization like the Nobel Committee. I’ll accept their “buyer’s remorse” over Obama the moment they come begging on hands and knees for giving one of the world’s worst terrorist leaders, Arafat, the award. This organization of scum has no legitimacy.