11 October 2009

Nobel What??

So, I know this isn't a political blog, and I promise I'll keep such posts to a minimum, but was it just me who was a little confused by the decision handed out by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee? I mean, I think Obama's a good guy, who has good intentions, and 50% of our household voted for him last year. But, is his record, so far, deserving of such a prestigious award, especially when the current debate is whether we should up the number of troops in Afghanistan?

Anyway, using the same logic as that employed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, I have decided that:

1. George Lucas and Gene Roddenberry (the man behind Star Trek) should both be awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for their "inventions" of lightsabers and transporters. Isn't the ability to capture a one-meter self-contained beam of plasma, which can cut through anything except a similar beam of plasma, more ground-breaking than whatever some scientist did to win the prize this year? And, ol' Gene thought up the "physics" to transport matter across vast distances of space more than 50 years ago! Where's his prize?

2. I should be make partner next spring at my law firm, because I have good intentions, my work shows lots of promise, and I bring a good attitude to the office. That's about what Mr. President has done in the last 9 months, no?

Anyway, enough thinking out loud. Don't get me wrong, I hope we look back in ten years and think that the President was deserving of this Prize at this moment. I promise I'm no right-wing nutjob--just one confused citizen.

Lastly, here's my favorite take on the situation:
In early November, just weeks after the committee awarded the Peace Prize to the president, the Vatican likewise cast aside tradition and canonized Obama in a brief but moving ceremony. It was true, Pope Benedict admitted, that sainthood historically had applied only to the deceased — and then only to those who led exemplary lives of heroic virtue and sanctity, followed by several miracles through the saint's heavenly intercession. For that matter, it was also generally expected that the person embrace the fundamental tenets of the Catholic Church.

But the pope waved aside all such hurdles in Obama's case, explaining that the president's "entire life has been a miraculous journey" and that the pope himself had experienced the president's holiness during their meeting in July.

"Our critics say we're too hidebound," Benedict exulted, "but not after this."

By Thanksgiving, Obama had picked up a 2010 MacArthur "genius" award several months before their scheduled release in recognition of his "exceptional creativity and promise." This was followed by an Oscar for Obama's starring role in "My Best Intentions," an autobiographical film expected in theaters in 2017.

No less satisfying was a Grammy the president pocketed for an Album of the Year that he was expected to record in 2020, in which he would recount in epic verse the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that he'd engineered while president.

To be sure, not every institution fulfilled its duty to honor the president's potential. One of the few setbacks occurred when the National Basketball Association canceled plans to crown Obama next year's Slam Dunk champion after "Krypto-Nate" Robinson objected, insisting that he be allowed to defend his title.

Fortunately, such signs of ingratitude toward the president were rare. Indeed, the most heart-warming proof of the soaring esteem in which people of every continent held Obama occurred in December, when a Mexican brewery announced that it was replacing actor Jonathan Goldsmith with Obama in its popular Dos Equis advertising campaign, "The Most Interesting Man in the World."

"Without Obama in the role as 'most interesting man,' our campaign was simply a lie, and the whole world knew it," a spokeswoman said. "Now when we say 'his reputation is expanding faster than the universe,' we're not even kidding."


6 comments:

Katie said...

Funny. I agree. Ben and I were both surprised by the Nobel.

nathan n rachel said...

I think that him getting that Nobel Peace prize was a joke!

GordonandChrissy said...

Amen! I have to say that I was impressed with most of his speech that morning, though, where he acknowledged that it wasn't recognizing just his own efforts. It was one of the few speeches he's made that wasn't all about himself!

Austin F. said...

First Al; now Barack. Remember when the Nobel Peace prize was a big deal?

George Huang said...

This year's Nobel in Physics went to the people who basically invented digital cameras. Not exactly insignificant, compared to lightsabers. Which can also be blocked by

I don't think any of the Nobels are a big deal, frankly, other than as a better-known award. Quick, name last year's winner of any Nobel prize.

Ben Robbins said...

Hilarious post! Especially the bit about the lightsabers. Meanwhile there's a doctor here at OHSU that found a cure to CML (a type of leukemia) and no one seems to find his PAST achievements noteworthy enough. Oh, and you might want to talk some sense into that other "50%" of your family. Just think of the biased education your kids are getting.