Yes, it did come as a big surprise that President Barack Obama today was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Last I looked this award was still one of the highest awards a human can receive. While it is unique that a Nobel Prize is awarded to someone so young and so early in his career, Obama's message of international diplomacy must have struck a chord with the award jurists. The group must have been attracted to his message of international disarmament and negotiation across many fronts.
And, you would think that the award would be greeted with cheers among most of the citizens of his home country. Guess again.
Following the announcement of the award today, I made the mistake of reading stories posted by the mostly the mainstream media and actually spent a few minutes watching cable news. Actually I found most of the comments pretty harsh.
Most surprising, I found a hastily written article by the normally doughty Associated Press, mostly summarizing a list of anti-Obama comments they gathered. Frankly, because the piece echoed so many of the conservatives erroneous talking points, I thought the article was manufactured opinion rather than news.
Most of the cable news analysts, save about one, were happy to dump all over it. Fox News spent most of the morning covering a slow-speed car chase in Dallas. (Actually the phrase "cable news network" is a misnomer, they are all more like "cable opinion networks." Producing opinion is cheap, producing news takes time and money.)
News outlets went out of their way to drag down the usual conservative analysts who lambasted Obama for his actions in Iraq, his deliberations over Afghanistan and his negotiations with Iran. While they were trying to make the case he wasn't deserving the award, the right-wingers didn't sound very peace like. One prominent commentator said the Obama only won the prize because he was black.
One of my favorite commentators dismissed the Norwegian prize jury as a bunch of left-wing liberals. I guess that panel has to recruit more guys from Alabama or Texas named Bubba.
There is a chance that many Americans were a bit torqued because some analysts hinted that the award could be a world smack down of George Bush. But I am still betting that the Nobel Prize jurists work at a bit higher plain than cable news networks.