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I’d like to thank the academy

ironyC Id like to thank the academyThere is much that is admirable about President Obama, but the Nobel Peace Prize episode is not his finest hour.  While his acceptance speech was, as usual, eloquent and humble, there is no escaping the fact that he had just committed another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and did it using some of the same rhetoric and rationale that we had come to expect from George W. Bush.  Obama may one day fulfill the promise that the Nobel committee saw in him, but he has a long way to go to truly deserve the title of peacemaker.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Cartoons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

16 Responses to “I’d like to thank the academy”

  1. Kc says:
    December 13, 2009 at 1:18 am

    Are you kidding me? The guy inherets 2 WARS ! And you think he’s a war monger?? Are you an absolute moron? Worst political cartoon I’ve ever seen. Ever! You’re an idiot honestly. I agree he has a long way to go before deserving of a nobel piece prize, but to fram him amongst a war banner is absoluty asinine. You are a disgrace as a pilitical comentator. Borderline retard. Go f@ck yourself to death you idiot.

  2. Alex M says:
    December 13, 2009 at 1:42 am

    He is doing exactly what he promised to do on the campaign trail:

    “It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large. If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned. And yet today, we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan.” As president, Obama has promised that he would redeploy two more US combat brigades to the Afghan theatre. http://bit.ly/5LsI56

    “In what is being billed as a major policy speech, Obama declared this morning that if elected president, he would redirect attention and US forces to Afghanistan.” http://bit.ly/1IyK0v

  3. dave says:
    December 13, 2009 at 2:12 am

    Apparently one has not had their education in foreign policy. Seriously. Though I may not be a fan of neither Bush nor Obama I can say that I am sick of uneducated liberal columnists printing retarded political cartoons designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of the masses.

    Sure; let’s let Obama be “peacemaker.” Does one seriously think that this will significantly change the “hearts and minds” of the taliban or al qaeda into loving us? In fact, I am appalled that Obama did not send the 40,000 troops that were asked for. This is not just about American security anymore; this is about the security of a nuclear nation (pakistan) and the ability of the US to terminate the growing presence of al qaeda in waziristan.

  4. Joakim says:
    December 13, 2009 at 2:23 am

    This prize should rather have been given to the American people. instead of Obama himself. They are the first western nation to elect a black president. With America’s background in mind, it is even more remarkable.

    Taking the enormous applause that Obama got midspeech after explaining why he had forbidden torturse, one could also see this as a message to the old White House administration..

    But even with this in mind, the Nobel academy could have made a much better decision for this years winner.

    However, it seems like the Nobel academy sometimes are giving the prize as to encourage and show them that they are on the right path, rather than them earning the prize to a 100%. I believe this might be one reason why Yasser Arafat got the prize.

  5. Alex says:
    December 13, 2009 at 2:32 am

    Just to point out that part of the statutes the Nobel Peace committee has to answer to indeed includes the encouragement of people of promise and influence to self-fulfill the peace aspect of the prize, and the prize is not only for past glory.

  6. honour chick says:
    December 13, 2009 at 3:50 am

    lol… the irony is just too obvious :) )

  7. obama-fan says:
    December 13, 2009 at 6:34 am

    agreed

  8. bgarrett says:
    December 13, 2009 at 8:28 am

    Humble?
    You meant that as satire, right?
    Did you count the number of times he said, “I”?

  9. Filipe says:
    December 13, 2009 at 9:00 am

    So, it’s his fault that he was awarded the Nobel prize?

  10. Kyle says:
    December 13, 2009 at 9:51 am

    The Nobel committee wasn’t very smart in giving it to him in the first place. He hadn’t really done anything to deserve it, and he was in a position where he inherited two wars. Something not very peaceful was bound to happen. I’m sure that even many of his supporters were “What? I like him and think he’ll turn this country around… but he hasn’t really done much to deserve such a prestigious award.”

    Sucks for him. Makes him look like a cheater… he never asked for it in the first place.

  11. Anonymous says:
    December 13, 2009 at 10:14 am

    Of course he has a long way to go, but I don’t think that the 30,000 troops have much to do with that.

    I wish it wasn’t, but the fight in Afghanistan was inevitable. It’s always been a hellhole (just ask the Russians). I only wish we hadn’t gone in so as incompetently and with such terrible leadership as we back in 2001.

    The people who are the real threat have, for the most part, moved over the border to Pakistan. But if we left Afghanistan right now, pulling out our troops, the terrorists would be able to take it back rather simply. With such an mess of an infrastructure and a political system in shambles, people will look to whoever has a clipboard and a plan. And if we leave, that’s them. I don’t like it, but it’s better we stay a while longer than leave and screw them over completely.

    And hey, at least he didn’t send 30,000 troops to Iraq, which has nothing to do with anything.

    It’s kind of a shame that people are freaking out so much over what Obama “hasn’t” done. There’s so much red tape in Washington, it’s amazing that he’s managed to get a health bill into Congress at all, even if it hasn’t passed. The problem is the serious discrepancy between people who think he’s the messiah and those who think he’s the Antichrist. They both seem to have forgotten that he’s human.

  12. asdasdasd says:
    December 13, 2009 at 11:46 am

    uhmm Obama gave himself the Nobal Prize?

  13. Mike Cugley says:
    December 13, 2009 at 12:13 pm

    You do understand that Obama had no control over his nomination? Or that he said during his campaign that he would do exactly what he is doing in Afghanistan? Seriously, what was he supposed to do?

  14. John James says:
    December 13, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Here’s a better story on Obama’s hiding of torture and preventing justice, among other things:
    http://www.truthout.org/12110911

    I place Obama as the most despicable Nobel Peace Prize recipient ever. He’s no better than Bush in that regard. I wish americans would leak the pictures.

    The current Obama is keeping torturers above justice, thereby effectively negating all relevant US laws and the legitimacy of his own government. A government that doesn’t respect the laws of USA and works to negate them, is not a legitimate one. Patriotic americans should leak the relevant pictures and restore the legal system and justice.

  15. one better » Twitter Weekly Updates for 2009-12-13 says:
    December 14, 2009 at 1:58 am

    [...] Prize for Irony: http://www.carlsontoons.com/?p=331 [...]

  16. jonolan says:
    December 14, 2009 at 4:31 am

    That’s poignant, ironic, and rather funny – all at once. Very well done indeed.

    It’s takes a lot of chutzpah to “justify” a acceleration of warfare in one’s Nobel Peace Prize speech. That doesn’t, in and of itself, make Obama wrong – but damn!

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Stuart Carlson is an award-winning political cartoonist. His work is nationally syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. Read more >>

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