If ever there was a moment for Kanye West…

The Norwegian Nobel Committee didn’t exactly do Barack Obama any favors today. Giving the president this award only nine months into his presidency (and nominating him less than two weeks into it) will draw attention to his shortcoming more than his actual achievements. And with Hu Jia and Liu Xiaobo languishing in jail on the ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
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579638_091009_kanye2.jpg
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 13: Kanye West (L) jumps onstage after Taylor Swift (C) won the "Best Female Video" award during the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on September 13, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images)

The Norwegian Nobel Committee didn’t exactly do Barack Obama any favors today. Giving the president this award only nine months into his presidency (and nominating him less than two weeks into it) will draw attention to his shortcoming more than his actual achievements. And with Hu Jia and Liu Xiaobo languishing in jail on the 20th anniversary of Tiananmen square, the Chinese Communist Party has to be fairly satisfied with today’s result as well. 

 

I would say that the prize should have “returned to its activist roots” and awarded someone who actually needed more publicity, but as Ronald Krebs showed back in July, that doesn’t always turn out so well either.

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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