The Real Reason Why Obama Received the Nobel Prize

President Obama caught a lot of flak when he was given the Nobel Prize in 2009. Even some of his supporters thought that the award was a little over the top, if not premature. After all, Obama hadn’t really accomplished anything up to that point. Previously he was a community organizer and a state Senator, and had only been president for a few months. What had he actually done to earn the award?

It turns out, the reasons for the award were as absurd as many of Obama’s opponents had asserted at the time. Geir Lundestad, the former director of the Nobel Institute, recently wrote a memoir of his career and revealed the real reason for Obama’s prize. Apparently the award was an attempt to strengthen and encourage Obama (in light of his calls to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons at the time), though he doesn’t think it had the desired effect since many of his supporters criticized the award. “In retrospect, we could say that the argument of giving Obama a helping hand was only partially correct.” He further added that “As such, it did not achieve what the committee had hoped for.”

So essentially, the Nobel Institute can now hand out awards to people they think will have the potential to do great things, instead of giving them to people who have actually done great things. Did I mention that I’ll cure cancer and forge world peace when I get around to it? Hey Nobel Institute, give me a call sometime.