Hoekstra: Obama should return Nobel prize

[alp227]

Michigan Senate candidate Pete Hoekstra is calling on President Obama to return his Nobel Peace Prize to demonstrate a new bipartisan approach to foreign policy.

Hoekstra, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, makes the suggestion in a piece for NewsMax, critiquing the president's "new order foreign policy":

What we need now is a move toward a bipartisan foreign policy and recognition that the U.S. standing in the international order knows no political divide — we are all Americans. The partisan sniping that began during the Bush administration and continued into the early days of the Obama administration represents a dangerous trend that needs to be stopped. America now faces its most difficult and dangerous international environment in decades and our traditional allies, such as Israel, find themselves perched on the edge in a Middle East grown more dangerous. We must find a consensus approach.

full: http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/1011/Hoekstra_Obama_should_return_Nobel_prize.html

[Arctic Dave]

1. He should have never received it.

Much like a majority who voted for him they only saw what they hoped, not the truth.

He is an articulate bush.

[wndycty]

2. Really? Wow

:kick: not too constructive/productive of a statement.

[Arctic Dave]

31. Just my assessment of the situation.

Why do you think he deserved it without earning it?

[Arctic Dave]

32. Just my assessment of the situation.

Why do you think he deserved it without earning it?

[Bodhi BloodWave]

60. He *did* earn it

one of the main reasons(if not the main) was because of his work on reducing/ridding the world of nukes when a senator(unless my memory is wrong, I'll have to look it up later when i have time to make sure)

Just cause a bunch of people here on DU thinks he only got it cause he wasn't Bush dosn't mean that their opinion is factual

[great white snark]

3. But he did. Let's see...renowned scholars opinion of him or yours.

Don't worry, childish bitterness will have an award some day.

[Tarheel_Dem]

6. Exactly. Let's ask the renowned scholars if they give a shit what anonymous internet posters think.

:rofl:

[Arctic Dave]

23. Let's see, who's opinion more is more valid,

someone who has two and a half years of observation or someone who thought a guy deserved an award before he did a single thing to earn it.

[BklnDem75]

62. I think I'll go with the scholar...

over someone who's been claiming the award wasn't deserved for well over a year.

[boxman15]

4. Seriously?

I love how out of touch so many on both sides are...

[Arctic Dave]

26. So, explain why he deserved it.

You say "I'm out of touch", define why.

[Rincewind]

33. He was awarded

the Nobel Peace prize for his work on securing weapons grade nuclear material so that it would not fall into the hands of terrorists. Something that some of us consider important. But, don't let that upset your little hissy fit, I doubt that you will be on any Nobel Prize committees any time soon.

[Arctic Dave]

38. He did that all by himself BEFORE he was president?

Nice story but completely untrue. If that was the case then shouldn't Clinton and bush get since that started after the fall of the Soviet Union?

[CakeGrrl]

5. ...

:rofl:

Anger and bitterness aren't good things to hold onto.

[Grandrose]

9. He should and He DID!

It must be really sad to be you! :boring:

[Arctic Dave]

24. Simple question for you.

Why did he deserve it?

[treestar]

50. Ask the people who decided he was the one who would get it

They think he deserves it. End of story.

[Arctic Dave]

54. You got nothing, just as I thought.

[treestar]

58. I don't decide who deserves it

And have never had any influence. Check out the people who do and why they gave it out:

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/#

[Puglover]

34. LOL yes

it's really sad to exist if you don't think Obama deserved the Nobel Prize. :yoiks:

[emilyg]

15. Thank you.

[Number23]

16. No, thank YOU for being so consistent

[Botany]

17. Bitter table for one please

[Arctic Dave]

29. I think honesty makes people uncomfortable.

I don't think less of you for your feelings.

[Botany]

35. FYI

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5036937

[Arctic Dave]

39. FYI.

Nuclear stock piles have been being dismantled since the 80's. Look up START and START II.

[Botany]

41. FYI

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=5036937&mesg_id=5037080

[Arctic Dave]

42. FYI. Enjoy the read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_Arms_Limitation_Talks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/START_I

[Botany]

48. Enjoy and learn

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered/

Prague April 2009


The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous legacy of the Cold War. No nuclear war was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union,
but generations lived with the knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of light. Cities like Prague that existed for centuries, that embodied the beauty
and the talent of so much of humanity, would have ceased to exist.



Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those weapons have not. In a strange turn of history, the threat of global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk
of a nuclear attack has gone up. More nations have acquired these weapons. Testing has continued. Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear materials abound.
The technology to build a bomb has spread. Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one. Our efforts to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation
regime, but as more people and nations break the rules, we could reach the point where the center cannot hold.

[Arctic Dave]

53. That is why they started reducing them in the early eighties.

Geesh. Get over it. It has nothing to do with Obama but was started when he was in college.

I guess you believe Reagen single handedly won the Cold War.

OR, maybe it was years in the making and he was only president when they crumbled.

[Botany]

55. So Barack Obama 1980 BaracK Obama knew that .....

.... Vaclav Havel was going to be the head of an independent Czechoslovakia
which later on would peacefully separate in to 2 separate nations and that in 2008
he was going to be elected as the first African American President and would give
a speech in Prague in 2009?

"I guess you believe Reagen single handedly won the Cold War." No I give the credit to
George F. Kennan who is the father of the Containment policy which was followed by
many different administrations. European containment should never be compared to
the failed S.E. Asian Domino theory.

I know all about START, SALT, and the ABM agreements and I have never seen in my lifetime
a President as aggressive and effective about getting rid of nuclear weapons and materials
as Barack Obama.

[SidDithers]

36. Obama = Bush idiocy...

:puke:

Sid

[Arctic Dave]

40. Obama = maintaining bush policies.

Makes want to barf also.

[win_in_06]

47. It is easy to argue that our current President has upheld the Bush doctrine.

From honoring the Bush administration pact with Iraq to the letter, to doubling-down on the strategy in Afghanistan, expanding the policy to Yemen and Libya, to keeping Bush-era leaders in place (Petraeus, Gates, etc).

[AtomicKitten]

56. You don't know why he received it, do you? He got it for his work in nuclear disarmament.

Something he worked on as a U.S. Senator rounding up loose nukes and, of course, the START treaty.

It's okay to admit you didn't know.


Obama's Plan for Nuclear Disarmament- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQx45ro_PT8

[Hippo_Tron]

61. I think he would agree with you that he should have never received it

Neither he nor his advisors really knew how to react. It was kinda out of nowhere. And as he admitted in his speech, he certainly hadn't think he had yet done much to deserve it.

[Enrique]

7. this is one concession I think Obama should do

but he should wait until the whole GOP gets on the bandwagon for full effect. Then say, ok, I'll give it back. And watch them come up with some reason why that's not enough.

I normally hate to see make concessions to the GOP, but this one would have no consequences, just the political benefit.

[Raine1967]

8. K&R for the OP.

It appears people are missing the point. I see the point.

Obama getting a Nobel award is NOT the issue here.


Hoekstra is.

[Mass]

10. Thanks. I was wondering what I was missing.

But it is fun to see that many here agree with Hoekstra. The fact that it is on Newsmax should have been a clue too.

[Snotcicles]

11. Pete Hoekstra? the guy who found WMD in Iraq. That Pete Hoekstra?.... side note......

Spell-checker keeps bring up Jockstrap for Hoekstra ha ha ha.

[treestar]

51. Perfect

:rofl:

[louis-t]

12. I see, so 8 years of bush foreign policy that didn't work

+ 3 years of Obama policy that is working pretty good = we need bi-partisan, kumbaya foreign policy? Hoekstra is a world class asshole. These repug jokers still don't realize how stupid they sound.

[ProSense]

13. It

"Hoekstra, a former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, makes the suggestion in a piece for NewsMax, critiquing the president's 'new order foreign policy':"

...figures that Politico would find some people ready to jump on the bandwagon of an asshole Republican quoted by a wingnut site.

Steve Benen

<...>

This is a very odd argument. If someone wants to argue that Obama was an unfortunate choice for the award, fine...But that’s not what Hoekstra is saying here. As the Republican sees it, Obama is “bound” by Peace Prize — how, he did not say — and the president is just continuing Bush policies anyway.

I have no idea what this guy is talking about. If there’s any evidence of Obama allowing the honor to interfere with his foreign policy judgment, it’s hiding well. The president doesn’t seem “bound” by anything but his desire to act in the nation’s best interests.

As for the argument that Obama is just continuing Bush-era policies in international affairs, I wish Republicans would make up their minds. One the one hand, the right would have us believe the president is signaling weakness abroad. On the other hand, the right insists the president is just an echo of his Republican predecessor. We’re told Obama has no foreign policy successes and we’re told Obama has lots of foreign policy successes, for which Bush deserves credit.

For the record, the president is having success on the global stage precisely because he isn’t following the Bush/Cheney model. Obama isn’t torturing; he’s put a greater emphasis on counter-proliferation; he’s shifted towards a more responsible model of military intervention; he’s taken a healthier approach to international engagement, which has helped improve the nation’s standing abroad, etc.

<...>

It's part of the RW effort to salvage Bush's legacy and obscuring that his policies were a complete failure. Also, using the Nobel Prize to do it is moronic.

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

<...>

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

<...>

Nobel Committee Member: Nuclear Disarmament Efforts Won Obama the Prize

Here's a great clip from December 2010: Rachel Maddow on securing loose nuclear materials.

[Tx4obama]

14. Someone tell him that part of why Obama received the Nobel was for work he did as a U.S. Senator

Part of why they gave Obama the Nobel Prize was because of his efforts on nuclear disarmament/non-proliferationhe - Obama began that while he was still a U.S. Senator


The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

Oslo, October 9, 2009

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2009/press.html

[FrenchieCat]

18. Perhaps folks here should read your link.....

cause it appears that they too have no clue. :crazy:

[LiberalFighter]

19. Hoekstra should go get himself an enema

then go lick the ass of a elephant

then remove himself from this plant

[Bozita]

20. "Leaky Pete" Hoekstra is gonna run against Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) next year.

Major league asswipe!

[Snotcicles]

43. LOL. Leaky Pete. thats rich. nt

[FrenchieCat]

21. Hoekstra wants publicity for his Senate run......

Guess he thinks himself a genius now. :crazy:

[ncteechur]

22. That fucker can't count to 21 without his pants down so what he says isn't worth one damn

[SidDithers]

37. That only gets him to twenty and a half...nt

Sid

[TwilightGardener]

25. What does the prize have to do with consensus between the parties?

That makes zero sense to me. What's in it for Obama to give it back? What's in it for America? I'm sure the Repubs would love some sort of symbol of foreign policy failure on Obama's part like this, but in fact he's been kicking ass in that department since the beginning, and they can't stand it. What a transparent ploy.

[rpannier]

28. Because it would make the Republikkans happy

That's the definition of Bipartisan -- making the republikkans happy

[treestar]

52. Exactly!

:wtf: Republicans. They just talk. Don't have to make sense. Just babble.

[rpannier]

27. Another moron has been heard from

[MjolnirTime]

30. Obama reduced the number of Nuclear Weapons threatening this planet dramatically

and he has secured a deal to assure this process continues.

He deserves more than a Nobel Prize.
He deserves a "Thank You" from ~7 billion human beings.

[Name removed]

44. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[yellowcanine]

45. Proving once again that opinions are like a**holes: everyone has one.

[Cigar11]

46. More Distractiuons ....

Does anyone here ever wonder why any and everything but JOBS is important to the “unconnected”?

The President should tell these idiots that same thing the Birthers should be told … to Kiss his Black Ass!

[treestar]

49. By what twisted Republican logic

Does bipartisanship have to do with this?

I don't even understand his reasoning. Obama should return it because no Republican got one?

[AtomicKitten]

57. It's clear Hoekstra and some here have no idea what he received the Nobel Peace Prize for.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=805404&mesg_id=806113

[ellisonz]

59. Notice how they don't even put an R next to his name --- fuck politico.