Comments on: Obama and the Peace Prize, Redux

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:41:34 +0000

Again, I think Obama is okay in receiving the prize. The cash reward is another matter, however. There, it doesn’t matter if the money is coming from a government or a private concern: he can’t keep it, nor disburse it to his own financial benefit.

By: Yamaneko

Yamaneko — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 07:28:52 +0000

Article I, Section 9, of the Constitution, the emolument clause, clearly stipulates: “And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.”
…

Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt both received Nobel Prizes. The Nobel Committee, though its members are selected by the Norwegian Parliament, is a private organization.

Just because a current government has a role in selecting the directors of an organization does not mean that the organization is not private. For example, the American Red Cross has a Congressional charter to carry out disaster relief and eight members of its board are appointed by the President. When it reformed its governance in 2007, the President signed off on it.

The Federal Reserve would fall into this category as well, a private body whose leader is appointed as a Cabinet member would be.

By: Chiara

Chiara — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:51:54 +0000

Michel and John–LOL LOL

True Obama does behave like a nervous child, or boisterous adolescent, at times, and also rather petulent, as when the Russians shook Putin’s hand but not his (must have been another protocol non-information lapse on Obama’s part to keep extending his hand). While he has many fine attributes, I also think he is such a rapid riser that it is worrisome, and has made so much of being raised white in Hawaii yet benefitting from being black-skinned (read Affirmative Action–you don’t get into Columbia with mediocre marks from Pacific College, nor Harvard Law with only decent marks from Colombia unless you have other points going for you) that even that is worrisome. Hopefully Obama is as fast a learner as everyone seems to think, and actually does something except plan for his next move up the ladder, now that he is President.

Michel–Sarko was sounding almost “gauchiste” in the initial part of his UN speech until he reverted to his law and order “la racaille” type. Had me all beneficent towards him there for a while, until he brought me back to reality! LOL

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:46:47 +0000

As I’m left-handed, ‘gauche’ is not a word I use a lot! Same with ‘sinister’.

I am well aware of its meaning however and it’s particularly apt here.

By: Michel

Michel — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:29:22 +0000

Jay Kactuz,

I hope you know French…
Gauche is not really the right (right ??) word for Sarkozy

But you’re right: he often behaves like a child, a nervous child.

By: Jay Kactuz

Jay Kactuz — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:09:30 +0000

Gauche? Gauche! Now that is a word I haven’t heard in a while.
Not just gauche, but gauche in many ways and I’m not referring to protocol and manners.
For someone who has lived abroad and studied in elite universities, Obama is very much a child of the Chicago hoods. You almost expect him to do a knuckle knock with sarkozy…

By: Chiara

Chiara — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:06:45 +0000

I agree that Obama is particularly gauche in the gift-giving department. He needs better protocol advisers in general, as every time he goes abroad he seems totally unaware of the protocols in other countries–around gifts, but also salutations, shaking hands or not, bowing or not, etc

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:31:59 +0000

You raise a good point. It’s not Obama’s fault that the Nobel Commission chose him. The Commission needs its head examined, though.

The article, though, pointed out that the President cannot give the money to charity: it’s not his to give. The money must go to the US Treasury. Were he to give it to charity, he’d receive a reduction in his taxes valued at near $500K. That is the kind of ‘personal emolument’ that’s expressly forbidden by law.

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:29:21 +0000

No, there you’ve got me… or the White House. The outbound gifts have seemed particularly inappropriate, if not out-and-out dumb.

By: Nathan Omdalen

Nathan Omdalen — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 04:20:50 +0000

I think its time to leave Mr. Obama alone on this one (He has enough on his plate as it is). Politics forced the president to accept the award. If he did not accept the award, Obama would be perceived as anti-peace. He had no choice to except the award, and he accepted it knowing he did not deserve it. No one can convince me that this Harvard graduate actually believed he deserved the award, so it disturbs me when conservatives frame him as believing so. If the president made any misstep, it would be letting the politics of this peace prize incident disrupt the decisions he must make about Afghanistan. However, I do agree that the president must give the money to charity.