EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
- 'The Gilded Age' Statistics Corporations Don't Want Workers, or Anyone, to See
- As Death Toll Rises Beyond 500, Garment Factory Disaster 'Worst in World History'
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
- Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products
- Climate Change's 'Evil Twin': Ocean Acidification
- Report: Toxic Chemicals Found in Thousands of Children's Products
- Move Over, Koch Brothers: A Bigger, Darker Rightwing Funder Is Out to Destroy Public Education
- 'The Gilded Age' Statistics Corporations Don't Want Workers, or Anyone, to See
- Time for Big Green to Go Fossil Free
- Wisconsin Bill Would Treat Organic Milk, Sharp Cheddar, Brown Eggs as "Junk Food"
Popular content
Today's Top News
Praise and Skepticism Greet Obama Nobel Award
LONDON- A surprised world greeted the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama with a mixture of praise and skepticism on Friday.
In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Obama's
"extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and
cooperation between peoples."
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg referred to Obama's work for peace and disarmament, saying: "This is a surprising, an exciting prize. It remains to be seen if he will succeed with reconciliation, peace and nuclear disarmament."
Afghanistan's Taliban mocked the award, saying it was absurd to give it to Obama when he had ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year.
"The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency -- awarded the prize in 2005 -- said: "I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honor. In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself."
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in a statement: "The award of the prize to President Obama, leader of the most significant military power in the world, at the beginning of his mandate, is a reflection of the hopes he has raised globally with his vision of a world without nuclear weapons."
In the Middle East, chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said the award could be a good omen for peace in the region.
"We hope that he will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East and achieve Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and establish an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital," he told Reuters
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told army radio he believed the award would enhance Obama's ability "to contribute to establishing regional peace in the Middle East and a settlement between us and the Palestinians that will bring security, prosperity and growth to all the peoples of the region."
The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, was more skeptical.
"Unless real and deep-rooted change is made in American policy toward recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people I would think such a prize would be useless," Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, told reporters after Friday prayers.
REAL CHANGE
Saleh al-Mutlaq, a senior Iraqi Sunni Muslim lawmaker, told Reuters: "I think he deserves this prize. Obama succeeded to make a real change in the policy of the United States -- a change from a policy that was exporting evil to the world to a policy exporting peace and stability to the world."
In Indonesia, Masdar Mas'udi, deputy head of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdatul Ulama, said: "I think it's a good thing. I think it's appropriate because he is the only American president who has reached out to us in peace. On the issues of race, religion, skin color, he has an open attitude."
In Pakistan, Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party, said: "It's a joke. How embarrassing for those who awarded it to him because he's done nothing for peace. What change has he brought in Iraq, the Middle East or Afghanistan?"
South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, awarded the prize himself in 1984, hailed the award as "a magnificent endorsement for the first African American president in history."
Two other former recipients, Mikhail Gorbachev and Wangari Maathai, were among the first to offer their congratulations.
Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader awarded the prize in 1990, was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying: "In these hard times people who are capable of taking responsibility, who have a vision, commitment and political will should be supported."
Maathai, a Kenyan environmentalist who won in 2004, referred to Obama's mixed heritage of a Kenyan father and American mother, called it "another very encouraging event for Africa."
From Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo in western Kenya his uncle Said Obama told Reuters: "It is humbling for us as a family and we share in Barack's honor. We congratulate him."
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai, who had been among the favorites to win this year, said Obama was an extraordinary example.
"I wish to congratulate President Obama. I think he is a deserving candidate," he told Reuters during a visit to Spain.
Writing by Andrew Dobbie; Editing by Angus MacSwan
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
257 Comments so far
Show AllThanks for setting the record straight Jim!
This is the gift from the ghost of Christmas future. Hard to figure out the Nobel Peace Prize committee sometimes. Out of 205 persons or groups put forward, they decided to give it to Obama - and it was a unanimous decision? At least he gave the cash prize to charity - good for him!
One thing I do know is this will be very entertaining, the lunatics on the far right (Limbaugh, Beck & company) will be apoplectic over this. Shuld be fun to watch!
See, who says Speech 101 is a useless class. You too can win a Nobel Prize for good speeches!
Especially if somebody else writes them.
Heil Norwegianity.did OBOMBA WIN THE TOSS BUSH OR OBOMBA THE BUSH MIMIC
In a way, it makes sense that Obama would get this prize, which is based on what he MIGHT do. Obama is not into the past, he is looking forward. The other nominees had actually accomplished things, so of course they couldn't make the final cut.
This is the way it works now. We must focus on the FUTURE, not on all the old stuff in the past, such as the crimes of the Bush administration, or of the financial sector, or of the insurance companies, etc., etc., etc. That is why U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice dismissed the Goldstone report of Israeli war crimes in Gaza so casually.
"Our view is that we need to be focused on the future," Rice told reporters outside the Security Council.
Obama announced his Nobel Peace Prize and got right back to work on Afganistan (where the option of ending our occupation and bombing is off the table, just like single payer health care).
Take a break, Obama, and spend two minutes watching these haunting images set to Sarah Thompson's powerful song "Is It for Freedom", before you drag us all farther down the road to hell.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=
1263093721952718155#
Where and when did Susan Rice dismiss the Goldstone report?
http://palestinechronicle.com/view
_article_details.php?id=15464
Here is an article from Global Jewish news service (JTA) titled: RICE 'SERIOUS CONCERNS ABOUT GOLDSTONE REPORT"
"The Obama administration decision this year to join the council reversed the Bush administration policy of snubbing the Human Rights Council because its resolutions heavily tilt against Israel and because much of its membership is made up of major human rights abusers, such as Libya, Iran and China.
Rice said that whatever the consequences of the report, the U.S. emphasis would be on renewing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "Most importantly, our view is that we need to be focused on the future," she said. "This is a time to work to cement progress towards the resumption of negotiations" between Israel and the Palestinains "and their early and successful conclusion."
Rice said it is the "strong view" of the United States that the report be considered by the U.N. Human Rights Council, not the U.N. Security Council. Jewish groups have objected to advancing the report at all; its consideration by the Security Council could result in legal moves against Israel and Hamas.
The Anti-Defamation League's national director said he was "shocked" that the United States did not unequivocally condemn the Goldstone report.
"I am shocked and distressed that the United States would not unilaterally dismiss it," Abraham Foxman said, reacting to the response to the Goldstone report by State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.
"There was a one-sided unacceptable mandate for this fact-finding investigation and that mandate was set forth before we joined the Human Rights Council," Crowley said. "Now we have a report. We’re going to take a look at it. I’m not going to talk about the substance of the report at this point. But in terms of its recommendations, we will consult with various countries and determine how to take action going forward."
Maybe you can find where she "dismisses" the report.
Here's a spot-on progressive critique of Obama's peace prize:
What has Barack Obama done for Peace?
http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=5051
Sorry folks..in Amerika, Peace is "off the table."
Considering the comments, I think that many people here don't know what Alfred Nobel intended with the peace prize. So let's just look at the facts:
To quote from his will: "..and one part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
Yes, on the "abolition or reduction of armies" Obama has definitely failed to deliver, so far. On all the other counts, he hasn't, though.
I've never been as besotted by him as have many here - or those who posted here a lot during the US election campaign and who used quite a formidable array of sexist slurs in the direction of Hillary Clinton (I have an excellent memory)- and who probably have changed sides again in the meantime.
But Obama deserves a lot of brownie points re "best work for fraternity between the nations" (which any opposition leader in any given country, many of whom have been nominated, couldn't possibly accomplish anyway) and re "the formation and spreading of peace congresses" he is trying very hard indeed.
Since the Norwegians are not prone to American-style emotional hysterics in politics, I can vividly imagine that they had some lively discussions and that the five members of the committee kept pulling out Nobel's own words and compare them with the candidates at hand.
Many nobelists that have been awarded the Prize would typically only fulfill one of the three - Obama actually fulfills two out of three, primarily due to his office, of course.
I.e.: To deny that he has any business getting it is to disclose that one hasn't got a clue about what this Prize awarded for.
A few people who got the prize worked for all three of the reasons to get it - but most of them worked for max. one. Just try for once to concentrate on the facts, even if this is an unusual exercise for some of you.
Greetings from Europe.
Thank you for treating the man and the honor that he received with respect.
You never know what people will do when they get into a position of power.
Sometimes great and good things can happen and I'm betting on President Obama to rise to the occasion.
He inherited a terrible mess and people in the U.S. are so used to backbiting and bickering that I fear he won't get the support that he deserves.
In any case congratulations are in order!
I don't keep pets, but the more I think about the concept of the Nobel Prizes being essentially "Attaboy!"s, the sillier it seems.
Here's a big, fat hunk of Burnin' Honor, Glory, and Prestige, ostensibly in recognition of your outstanding work and accomplishments; but in the event that your accomplishments are woefully insufficient, and checkered at best, also in tribute to your outstanding potential, and the prospect of your using your great gifts to further the cause of world peace.
While reviewing scores of comments here and elsewhere scolding skeptics for stupidly or ignorantly failing to comprehend the true meaning of the "award", I applied the opposite question: is there any doubt that the customary and usual meaning of the term "award" presumes a simple cause-and-effect phenomenon, i.e. behavior meriting a favorable response is the cause, the award an effect?
Off the top of my head, thinking of everyday awards-- athletic trophies, essay awards, sales awards, achievement awards-- the award is typically the result of meritorious behavior.
The obvious exception is scholarships, which are also partly conditioned upon expectations of future performance.
So perhaps Obama's prize should be "rebranded" a Nobel Scholarship, or Fellowship.
But scholarships and fellowships are usually a precursor to adult professional life, or a sinecure.
Given that Obama is already a head of state, does he really need a scholarship? The choice of a political leader exposes the essence of the Nobel Prizes as an elitist, aristocratic ritual.
And it's also essentially a Treat. Who's a Goo' Boy? Who's a Goo' BOY?
· Yr Obd't Servant
Araquin Maybe get down off your high horse?I think we all know what Bertha and Alfred intended and you'd have to be stone deaf,dumb and blind,not to know the difference between intent and perception and gobbledegoop. Enjoy splitting your hairs all you want but right is right and OBOMBA MEMBER OF THE WAR CRIMINAL SADIST GANG AND A PEACE PRIZE RECIPIENT BLAH BLAH BLAH,that makes as much sense as donating every blood bank to a vampire.
Unfortunately, a notable person's having taken noble actions toward peace is not always a prerequisite to his/her receiving the Nobel peace award, wrongheaded as that may be.
Not all Nobel awards are noble.
Sometimes, the successful Peace Laureate, Obama for example, only needs to have blathered (eloquently, in the judgment of the sitting Selection Committee) about the possibility of
...some one or all of us humans coming to imagine in the present how nice it would be to also continue imagining into the future [cough cough]
...the concept of some one or all of us becoming theoretically willing to potentially consider the various options for conceivably taking noble actions toward peace in a new present as the hoped-for unfolding future [gurgle cough]
...which present will have by then joyously become in retrospect the ennobling past...cough, cough, gurgle, gag.
The Nobel Institute needs a new award category-- Best Bullshitter for Peace. Obama would richly deserve to win its opening prize.
Peace is as Peace does. It becomes real only as manifest through action or, as required, non-action.
It can never manifest through words alone.
Like war, peace involves risk. But unlike war, the risk of peace has a sustainable payback: it and it alone can reproduce human civilization in the long term.
terry Tell me about it! THE BIGGEST WAR CRIMINAL LORD HEINRICH KISSINGER got it in 1973
Well, I am a BIG fan of Obama, and I am happy to see him gain the recognition he will never have in his own country as a true statesman.
I am just really surprised, as I was not aware that the Nobel Foundation HAD a Toastmasters chapter.
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
So what flavor was your Brand Obama Kool-aid?
mujeriego leave your LA LA Land!
OBOMBA IS A WAR CRIMINAL.He sent drones to kill hundreds of innocents and thousands more fled to face the misery of refugeedom within days of being inaugurated.Escalated the heroin moneymaker war in Afghanistan /silence during the CAST LEAD GENOCIDE WHICH HE HELPS FUND WITH the other complicit elite greedies.STILL IN IRAQ SPENDING A MILLION dollars PER MINUTE
WARS=the real reason the country is bankrupt and all this is the tip of the iceberg. Members of the cult of the duped news flash, OBOMBA WAS ELECTED BY RIGGED DIEBOLDS and gullible cult followers and WALL STREET MONEY He is a FRAUD!LIE upon lie upon lie and masterful Hitler like oratory,propaganda and the worlds' richest diabolicals assured his rise to a puppet position.
Whatever the reason that the Norwegians voted for him to receive the Nobel PEACE prize ,it sure wasn't his peace record!It was either BLACKMAIL like with ABBAS or BRIBES,that is how the powerful usually get what they want!The either or system! The OBAMA CHOICE has demeaned the honor and signaled to the world of decent humanitarians,a rigged and tainted sham. Today is OBOMBA DAY! A DAY OF IGNOMINY and Alfred Nobel will be turning in his grave!Next they will be awarding it to Hitler, postumously.
So, you're saying he is just a typical American President?
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
That is what almost every poster here is saying.
Obama is no different than the corporate whore who preceded him.
I'm sorry, but the typical American President has accomplished something aside from proposing to bankrupt the country. He is not typical.
I wonder if this was done knowing it would create a controversial re-action? Obama kept the same Generals, and Bush Sr. long time friend, Gates, and they will continue on with the wars, so Obama will not be able to enjoy this honor. The Bush administration lurks in the shadow
A lofty forked tongue, billowing floweresscense in tone and tenor, vaulted by a cocked god like pose, brilliantly shining white teeth, blazing eyes and a winning smile, propelled from a shining hill by media magic, won Barak Obama the Nobel Peace Prize this morning and forever fractured the brains and down trodden hopes of double-crossed Progressives leaving us strewn across the scorched earth landscape leaving nothing between Fascist jack booted thugs and America's destiny. The new historical theme of Malignant Corporate Destiny confronts us. Let the pants wetting begin starting with grave ridden Adam Smith.
Damm fine writing Mr Stone!
TJ
"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." - Thomas Jefferson
Congratulations to Obama!
It is amazing how some blame Obama for winning. It is not as though Obama secretly and covertly bribed the Nobel Peace Prize Committee members to vote for him.
Of course, this prize does put more pressure on President Obama to work tirelessly for peace. And that's not that bad!
It is far greater effort and challenge to build and construct(peace) than is to destroy(war).
It is amazing how some blame Obama for winning.
________________________________________________________
I don't agree at all with your characterization.
No one is blaming Obama for "winning" per se.
We are blaming Obama for being a bloody-handed war criminal like his notorious predecessor, and the Nobel committee for being charlatans or dupes.
See the difference?
· Yr Obd't Servant
see, (to quote the notorious predecessor) you have a choice of 'charlatans or dupes'
this from the wikipedia info on the 'nobel peace prize'..........
Nominations must usually be submitted to the Committee by February 1 of the year in question. Nominations by committee members can be submitted up to the date of the first Committee meeting after this deadline.[7]
The Nobel Committee makes its selection on the basis of nominations received or postmarked no later than February 1 of the year in question. Nominations which do not meet the deadline are normally included in the following year's assessment. Members of the Nobel Committee are entitled to submit their own nominations as late as at the first meeting of the Committee after the expiry of the deadline.
ergo, the nomination for mr. obama was submitted less than three weeks after he took office................
(unless the committee haven't had a 'first' meeting till very late this year).............
bizarre................
Barack "Fraud" Obama before, during and after......
There is no substance to Obama at all. The man is all about war not peace.
Obama is here to protect and covet the military empire of the United States and of its main ally Israel.
Obama is a disaster, Castro's endorsement notwithstanding. I admire Fidel Castro but disagree with him on his praise of Obama receiving this award.
The "Nobel Peace Prize" is WORTHLESS in my opinion. This award has NO VALUE any longer.
Like Henry Kissinger, Obama is also a war crimninal. Obama's orders allowing innocent people to be killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan along with continuing Bush's so-called anti-terrorism policies from Guantanomo to Bagram to the gulags in Iraq and around the world, President Obama is GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES!!!!!!
Obama has NOT REPUDIATED THE BUSH DOCTRINE OF PRE-EMPTIVE WAR EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA IS A WAR CRIMINAL BUT THAT IS FITTING FOR THIS BANKRUPT "NOBEL PEACE PRIZE" WHICH HAS BECOME A FARCE!!!!!!!!!
Yes, War is crime.
Any president in time of a needless war is leading a criminal enterprise and America is always at war in many places.
Maybe this committee chosen by a nearly Socialist Parliament understands this reality and wants to encourage Obama to become a peace president for a change. I don't see any crime in that.
We'll see
To think, for a scientist to get the prize, he needs to:
Do groundbreaking research, often at the cost of being told his idea is "crazy".
Wait 20+ years to be vindicated by the next generation in finding use in his ideas.
Or a for those struggling for the common man:
Face political ridicule, censorship oppression, and even death.
Overcome systemic injustices by mobilizing the masses against the worst forms of tyranny
Changing the status quo as a whole
Apparently, though, if you're an exceptional politico, simply getting into office is enough. This is sickening.
Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations. The world has spoken. You have been sent a great sign, a road map to a more peaceful world, an epiphany, if you will, disclosing your potential for a wonderful destiny. You could do so much to right the wrongs of this world. Where to start? You could do more for peace than anyone in the history of the world by calling the Congress to action: clean up our country's corrupt political system. Make receiving large amounts of money the crime it so clearly is: bribery. Recognize that raising money gets in the way of elected officials doing their jobs, living up to their oaths of office, and doing what is in the best interest of America and the rest of the world. It's wrong. You can make it right. If ever a man was blessed, you have been. I wonder how that must feel. I expect it has improved your vision, given you a higher gear to run in, and at least some peace of mind.
Use health care as the demonstration of just how badly our system is broken. Imagine what would happen if you called the Congress to action on the corporate money issue, and they acted. The "peace dividend" would make it possible for the US to use peace instead of war as a strategy for making the world a better, safer, healthier place. Want to go down as the greatest president in the history of the United States of America? History is on your side. The great mass of mankind is on your side. Right is on your side. Fight the one battle to avoid so many others. Sir, when you boil it down to its essence, you have in your hands both the opportunity and the responsibility for saving the planet, for saving the world, for saving the world for our children's children.
Sincerely,
Bob Cox
Now Dr Bob settle down.Next you'll be hoping that the war criminale gang walk on water. These mortals may believe they have special powers but in the end they still shit the same way the rest of us do,maybe just a little more is all.
It is a shame, almost a crime to those worthy people, present and past who have received the Nobel prize in recognition of their efforts. I am thinking particularly of Willard Boyle the inventor of the second most important invention of the last century who had to wait patiently for 40 years to be recognized for his invention of the CCD.
Now with this abomination the honor is gone from the prize and all that is left is the money.
There seem to be a few people here that are not stunned and embarrased by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Obama.
The only basis I can see for it is participation. What possible argument anyone can find to justify it would certainly provide a great laugh for reasonably sane people.
Hi Henry,
Great to see you again.
"certainly provide a great laugh for reasonably sane people."
I suppose you are correct regarding reasonable and sane people. I feel that such folks are becoming a dying breed... To maintain a global empire such as ours requires violence or at the very least the continuous threat of violence. Of course this would make the selection of any American President for such an award ridicules.
The Nobel Peace Prize ought to be renamed the Nobel Violence Prize,,,then Obama would certainly deserve the 'honer'!
We had our poster boy for the right and his "Mission Accomplished" banner.....now we have our poster boy for the left and his "Mission Accomplished" prize.
The first mission was war, the second was peace.
Go figure.
I Know, If Bush was black he probably would have won ! bummer
LOL
I thought this was a joke when some guy in conversation mentioned it, "ha ha, yeah right" "no really he did". WTF? What an insult to the concept of peace. This award must be based on hopeful anticipation, not reality as it exists.
Alexander Cockburn has an excellent analysis of the Peace Prize history in www.counterpunch.com.
Nothing says Peace like concealing photos of one's soldiers committing atrocities
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091010/ap_on_go_co/us_abuse_photos_congress
Bring America Back !!!!
****Obama should flat out turn down this undeserved Nobel Prize, and the
accompanying kool $ million Purse, with the recommendation they award it
to someone who values Peace, works to achieve Peace, and who rejects Wars
of a Pre-Emptive kind !!!!!
**The Prez knows he is Un Worthy of this Prize because He has totally failed
on every campaign Promise, has joined the DC Culture of Corruption, and is now
a Pawn of the self-engorging US Military Industrial Complex.
What a disgrace and a historical dirty blemish on the Nobel Prize forever !
Actually kidding aside, the first thing I did,what the heck,after hearing about the great honor bestowed on one of USSA's finest and finishing my toast and jam,was to compose a letter to th OSLO-ATHIANS ,just to let them know that their bribe blackmail blunder participation,seemed a bit UNCOOL and mailed it off to
Henrik Ibsens gate 51
0255 Oslo
NORWAY.
I wonder if they'll get to read my prose?
I think it may be a -yes men-prank
Who can now accept a Nobel without embarrassment?
The committee cannot do this and hope to give meaningful recognition to real work.
Shame
Shame on the Nobel Committee and judges.
I agree wholeheartedly with the author. AMEN This is what I thought he would do. Any black man who can get himself elected can do anything! Why doesn't he fight for a single payer, national health care? The main problem is that we do not know all the good he has done. The TV programs most people watch do not carry this news. Our media is LARGELY controlled by Republicans. You could get real news on LINK TV but few people see LINK TV because you need an expensive satellite program to receive it. That is true of most knowledge on television. Most people cannot afford it. Great Country! Huh
"Talking isn't doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds." - William Shakespeare
-TIA
Donald Rumsfeld, or the ghost of George Orwell, must be on the Nobel committee these days. Apparently, it's "official" now: war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength.
What's wrong with you guys? Obama deserves this award. It was a stroke of genius to award it to a Harvard Grad like him; child of the Fortune 500 Oil Company (his father's employer). The guilt might just eat at him day after bloody day until he becomes a basket case like Nixon.
Next the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded post-humorously to Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao.......
The imperial trajectory of our "nation" went into warp speed with the advent of Wilson's public relations cabal, i.e., the Creel Committee. The outcome of that dubious "think tank" was the realization that "influencing" the opinions, beliefs, and "politics" of the masses--what was referred to as "the bewildered herd"--was a simple matter of creative media management.
It worked flawlessly in 1917--German-Americans got their heads handed to them, with the connivance of the State--and it works today.
To address the perennial all-American concern, "Why Johnny Can't Read" check with Johnny's dopey, gullible, TV-watching parents. Obama got the award because "they" knew that Johnny's parents would not only approve--they'd be thrilled!
(continued...)
http://empireglassdarkly.wordpress.com/