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Essay on Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

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Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize It was announced on October 9, 2009 that American President Barack Obama is this year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize for Peace. The Nobel Foundation states that Obama was chosen "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." (Nobel Foundation) Controversy and debate ensued in the world wide media. Critics have debated Obama’s worthiness. Supporters have cited numerous examples of the current U.S. Presidents’ nobility. Obama does deserve this prestigious award. Nobel prizes are awarded for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature, Peace, and Economics. In his will, award creator Alfred Nobel “specifically designated the …show more content…

(MacDougall) Other notable past winners include the 2007 winners Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." In 2001 the United Nations and Kofi Annan shared the award "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world" and, in 1993 Nelson Mandela and former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk were each awarded half of the prize "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa" (Nobel Foundation) The question remains “What has the new President actually done in a mere 10 months in office to put him in the same league as past laureates such as Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa?” (Savage) Savage cites four reasons the Nobel Committee gave to defend their choice. “Obama's focus on strengthening international diplomacy and supporting the United Nations, his "work for a world without nuclear weapons," his attention to climate change, and his improvement of human rights. In each area, Obama has made a start.” (Savage) Obama supporters argue that "Beyond mere

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