Hrm, this is a bit of a stretch but maybe it's a way to pressure him to step up to the plate and show that he deserves it i.e solution to Iraq/Afghanistan/Israel-Palestine/etc. Either way, this hurt Obama for the short-term at least as most people ask 'for what?'. Some prestigious organization in Sweden awards him something without his asking for it and he takes the heat.
This only serves to underscore Obama's seemingly underrated popularity outside of America. Obviously to us Americans it seems premature. To many people outside of America, he is a hero and an obvious choice.
Interesting thought, possible I suppose. From where I'm sitting this is certainly not for anything he's done, but rather what he will do or is trying to do. Not really knowing the exact criteria for the prize I guess I can't really criticize, but it still strikes me as slightly odd.
This is really more a statement about Bush. The Bush Administration foriegn policy was such a colossal clusterf_ck that the rest of the world sees just changing direction as a monumental event.
Yeah he hasn't done anything in terms of ending wars, completely stopping Nuclear Bombs, Restored GLobal CLimate/ Economic Change. He has however undeniably provided leadership in these areas that nobody has, changing the climate of international politics, and for one thing improvement of the US image around the world (It was difficult before, but now I can hold up my head abroad). Providing a foundation for these areas that did not exist is underrated, without a foundation, its difficult for any element to evolve.
Not in physics. No disrespect to anyone who has won the Nobel Prize for Physics in recent years, but recent winners just can't compare to past winners. Look at the 1920's (Einstein, Bohr, Millikan, de Broglie), the 1930's (Heisenberg, Schrodinger, Dirac, Fermi), or the 1960's (Feynman, Schwinger, Bethe, Gell-Mann). Those were really amazing discoveries behind those Nobel Prizes. Even as an astrophysicist, I don't think the invention of the CCD (2009 prize) can really compare.
