My take on the Nobel Peace Prize

So I've been asked repeatedly my opinion on why President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize so early in his Presidency without having realized all of the goals that he has set or when he has achieved more for what he's done. I can't honestly say why he won. He didn't ask for it and is genuinely humbled and honored to be the winner. My shock comes from the fact that ANY American was even mentioned in the same sentence as peace. Quite frankly, for the 8 years before President Obama took office we've been a tad bit warmongering.

I'm not going to do a huge history lesson on the Nobel prizes , but there are 5 categories and the candidates are chosen by criteria set up by Alfred Nobel in his will in 1895 along with a sizable amount of prize money. (For more details look it up. It isn't becoming to people who are going to criticize if they have no clue what it's all about). The committee that chooses the most qualified candidates is in and of itself a group of intelligent people that make their choices with care. Oslo Norway is the place that was chosen by Alfred Nobel for the award to be bestowed.

The requirements set by Alfred Nobel for the Peace prize is the following:

...one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

The official list of nominees will not be released for 20 years but some of the known nominees are:
Colombia Senator Piedad Cordoba, Sima Samar, Chinese dissident Hu Jia, and Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai (which is, brace yourselves, BLACK).
Rumored nominees are: French President Nicholas Sarkozy (remember when we were boycotting all things French because their country wasn't convinced that we were fighting the right enemy? Freedom fries and the taint of Tar-jay??), Ingrid Betancourt, the Cluster Munitions Coalition, Zivko Popovski-Cvetin, SOS-Kinderedorf International, Greg Mortenson, Thich Quang Do and Pete Seeger.

Sooooo, MY opinion as to whether it was too soon or jumping the gun? No. President Obama was put into office by grassroot groups of people. Little people, little voices like my own who cried out for the America President Obama envisioned. He inspired enough hope in America to win the election. He's inspired the world to believe peace isn't an impossible dream. His country may not be willing to stand behind him but he represents hope for the rest of the world. No it wasn't too soon or undeserved. The dissidents in our country who want his failure so badly, don't deserve the freedoms they enjoy. Who wishes for the failure of a President at the expense of their own country. It's just unfathomable.