On Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize

This op-ed probably best sums up my opinion on the matter, that overall it's a good thing and shows what a change has taken place in European views of the United States since the election, although it still feels a bit weird to have a prize awarded so soon. The only part I don't agree with is the note on Iran - I wouldn't say that Obama overlooked the fact that Iran's government had stolen an election in order to negotiate with them, but rather that the Obama administration had kept its distance and gave enough time to show its disapproval of the stolen election, after which it grudgingly went back to the bargaining table since Khamenei and Ahmadinejad seem to have been able to keep a hold on power for the time being. Given that the nuclear issue is one where both sides in Iran are mostly in agreement it's not such a big deal.

What will be interesting to see is whether the GOP is disciplined enough to avoid making this into the next big issue. Since Obama himself had nothing to do with it being awarded to him, if the GOP takes this issue and runs with it it'll burn them.

Here's Obama on winning the Nobel:



While we're on the subject, here's Barack Obama from the night of astronomy at the White House on 7 October. Photos can also be seen here.