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Comment by collyw | Hacker News Reader

Lost all credibility to me when they gave it to Obama despite him not doing anything.

And people like Henry Kissinger and Shimon Peres before that. I agree, this prize is a nonsense.

But then it's lacked credibility from the start. Nobel only funded it to help rebrand his anticipated legacy, to offset being remembered as "le marchand de la mort".

It seems more like the Time magazine “Person of the year” cover.

Stalin and Hitler both graced the cover at various points in time.

Time Person of the Year does sound like a prize, and I'd guess most people do think of it as a honour, but it's explicitly not that. The "Person of the Year" is some person, group, idea, or thing that Time Magazine decides "for better or for worse... has done the most to influence the events of the year" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Person_of_the_Year)

That's exactly my point, it's not actually based on any given accomplishment but more on "influence".

This is decidedly not true. You can do your own research as to why he was given it, as well as the process involved. To suggest he did nothing is a flat out lie.

Why don't you point out something he did rather than claiming it is a lie? If your claim is that he did something to deserve it, then the onus is on you to prove it.

Here is the first link I get returned for Obama Peace Prize"

https://nypost.com/2019/11/02/why-obama-got-a-nobel-peace-pr...

It even says: “It is true, Obama did not do much before winning,” Lundestad, 74, a member of Norway’s Nobel Committee until 2014, told The Post.

Second link I got returned is this: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34277960

"Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize"

> To suggest he did nothing is a flat out lie.

The deadline for nominations was eleven days after his inauguration. What did he do in those eleven days — other than not being Mr. Bush — that made him merit the prize?

Seriously, when I saw the headline here on HN I thought, 'oh sheesh, what now?' and was pleasantly surprised to see it go to a deserving organisation this year. That is how poor their decision 11 years ago was: over a decade later and I view the award with suspicion.B

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