Tone and Rhetoric Vs. Policy - Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Prize for peace. This may seem completely ridiculous when you take the policies of his administration into account, but if you consider the theory that his administration may not have total control over its own policy, could Obama's tone and rhetoric alone be worthy of a Nobel Peace Prize?

And could this prize create additional political pressure on the Obama administration to live up to its promises to win peace and restore rule of law, or does handing him the award before he's earned it leave him no reason to do his job?

Take a Stand Against Torture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw5c7zPdvtA

By the way, this is a little bit vloggier and more impromptu than I normally do... just wanted to try out something different, since I usually end up reading prepared text and/or editing. Welcome to the land of UMM.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• president
• barack
• obama
• hussein
• nobel
• peace
• prize
• rush
• limbaugh
• fox
• news
• george w. bush
• dick cheney
• torture
• guantanamo
• gitmo
• iraq
• afghanistan

[avrilsdream]

I respect your attempts to present a "new angle," however contrived, but there really isn't one other than the fact that the peace prize lost any credibility and weight it had left, much like this administration. To everyone, that is, but those still holding out for more promised handouts.

[Capitalocracy]

ah well the nobel peace prize lost credibility for me when they gave one to Kissinger... and I wasn't even born yet

[avrilsdream]

word

[Capitalocracy]

I really started vlogging post-election so I can't prove you wrong too easily, but during and right after the election I was saying that Obama was talking about change, but that the specific "positions" of his campaign were status quo... I'll pm you a link to my blog (which I stopped doing because nobody seems to read)

[avrilsdream]

Let's just be honest and say what we're not supposed to say. The majority of the people who put Obama in office don't even watch the news or care. You and I are having an intelligent, well-supported debate. What do you think those people are doing right now? Obama was voted in for all the wrong reasons, although his opponent was just as unappealing. Unfortunately, in our society, the boring old guy just isn't cool enough. The snazzy actor wins American Idol by popular vote! Yay!

[Capitalocracy]

I'm not saying it excuses his actions at all though. I don't think it does. I'm just presenting the idea that maybe, given the fact that candidate A and candidate B were both going to do the same thing, maybe more diplomatic rhetoric could be a positive change... I mean, actions speak louder than words, and Obama's been disappointing even to me that I wasn't convinced to begin with, but it at least proves that the people of the U.S. are against what their gov. is doing... it's hard to explain

[avrilsdream]

I especially liked the "change of rhetoric" comments. Because Obama is a fantastic speaker and charming bullshitter, and can do so with great sincerity and conviction, that somehow justifies his actions, even though completely contradictory. How refreshing! So that's the CHANGE we had stuffed down our throats pre-election! Even though there's no follow-through, at least he promised! I mean, let's give the guy a peace prize for promising!

[avrilsdream]

Fair enough. Although "...I'm calling for protests against the failure to prosecute torture" doesn't really prove anything. Neither does "I'm not someone that Obama ever had fooled." Everyone's claiming that, now that the deception is glaring. Michael Moore says the same things, now that Obama has revealed himself.

[Capitalocracy]

OK, good luck with that, but I won't be calling your psychic friends hotline anytime soon.

I was just trying to present another angle in this video. Look at my other vids, where I'm calling for protests against the failure to prosecute torture and other war crimes and the continuance of the same policies. I'm not someone that Obama ever had fooled, although to be honest, I did hope he'd keep at least some campaign promise other than escalating the war in Afghanistan

[avrilsdream]

Everyone can tell.