Nobel Facepalm

The Nobel Peace Prize has always been controversial, but I suspect the award of the 2009 prize to Barack Obama is likely to be one of the most controversial. The award doesn't seem to make much sense considering President Obama hasn't actually done anything to warrant the prize, as many have already pointed out. I strongly suspect, as well, that this award will do nothing positive for Obama himself, or for his administration.

I will make some predictions here:

• This will be historically viewed as one of the worst, and most controversial, award choices for the Peace Prize in Nobel history
• President Obama will regret accepting the prize
• The Norwegian Nobel Committee will regret its decision, and at least one current or former member will denounce it in the future

UPDATE (Oct 13): Alternative Nobel awarded to Canadian environmentalist David Suzuki. This would have been a much more worthy choice for the official Nobel Peace Prize.

UPDATE2 (Oct 15): Deliberations of the Nobel Committee have been leaked showing considerable objection to the choice of Obama, both from the left and the right. While the Chairman managed to obtain a consensus in the end, the rare leak itself suggests dissention. My third prediction looks closer to coming true.