and the Nobel Peace Prize goes to.....(deep breath)

President Obama (confused expression while reading the card).

Don't get me wrong, I like the president, but I was as confused as anyone when I woke up this morning and saw that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize.

However, a few things to keep in mind:
1. I do not understand the nomination process and rarely understand the rationale behind the awards
2. There are always deserving people, and so don't really buy the "someone more deserving should have gotten it" argument
3. Winning this award will not sway anyone's opinion of him as a president or as a person

I was reading another blog post about this, and one of the comments (from tmaxPA) really resounded with me, so I thought I would share it here:

"I know this award is heavily politicized,"
Actually, this award is entirely political. It is the reaction that is politicized. Nobody ever contended that giving out prizes for the promotion of world peace is not a lefty/socialist endeavor. There isn't anything non-political about peace in these modern times.
And as commenters from Mark G. to shonny and beyond have pointed out, there isn't anything non-controversial about this award. Nelson Mendella's "accomplishments" at the time he was honored was, I believe, to have been in jail.
All those who want to scoff that Obama had been nominated after only two weeks in office are conveniently ignoring the longest political campaign in global history, just ended, during which the future President provided an outstanding, even astounding, example of poise, integrity, and statesmanship. We may have been unaware that the impact of the candidate's historical Speech on Race was not limited to a domestic audience, but it is beyond doubt that his inauguration as the first person of African descent to be elected President of the United States of America was something the entire world paid a great deal of attention to.
Having done more in his three months as President Elect than any other President Elect has, both in the immediacy of his attention to international diplomacy and the enthusiastic reserve with which he handled the kind of conflicts which that approach can cause, his being President isn't even essential for him to deserve this honor.
Is it unexpected? Sure. Is it an anti-Bush award? Sure. Is it too premature to satisfy the concern trolls? Undoubtedly. Is it undeserved? Hell no.

So, guess what - tomorrow we'll wake up and it won't really have mattered who won anyway.