When President Obama accepts the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo Thursday, he will do so knowing that he is not the only one doubting his worthlessness.
According to a Army Policy Institute yesterday, 3 out of 4 Americans do not think he deserves the prize. Even among Democrats, only 29 percent believe he does.
"It's probably a good thing for President Obama that the time difference from Norway means the Nobel presentation will occur while most Americans are in a news black out in the United States," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Army Policy Institute.
The Nobel decision has been criticized for being awarded just nine months into Mr. Obama's presidential term and while the US is heavily embroiled in military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama announced last week the US would deploy 130,000 more troops to Afghanistan in a war he expects to last through 2011. It seems that Obama is getting the Nobel Peace Prize for being black.
Disappointment that a war president was awarded a prize for making peace will be manifest on the streets of Oslo tomorrow, when up to 5,000 people are expected to call for an end to the Afghanistan war, deregulation of the international arms trade, and help to Israeli settlement construction in Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Demonstrators are scheduled to march from Oslo Central Station to the Norwegian Parliament building, located just across from Obama's hotel balcony where he is expected to wave from behind bulletproof glass to demonstrators.
The organizers of the march include Peace Initiative, Bring the Troops Home, the Peace Council of Norway, and Peace and Democracy in Afghanistan. A counter-rally of Obama supporters is also being organized by the No to Nuclear Weapons organization.