We've All Won the Nobel Booby Prize

How do you win the Nobel Prize in just 12 days? Well, according to political pundit, columnist, and blogger Tommy De Seno over the last decade, the only discernible requirement has been to be "critical of George W. Bush--see Al Gore, Mohamed El Baradei, and Jimmy Carter."

But, even by that standard, Barack Obama's giddy cheerleaders in Oslo have broken new ground. The deadline for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominations was February 1. The president took office just 12 days before that--on January 20.

So, what did the Celebrity-in-Chief do in those first 12 days in the White House? What did he do to deserve the accolades of the Nobel Committee? According to his own published White House schedule, he essentially threw some parties, skipped church, threw some more parties, had a few meetings with his staffers, made a couple of speeches, skipped church again, ordered the release of federal funding in order to export America's abortion holocaust to the rest of the world, threw some more parties, and watched the Super Bowl.

No really. That's about it. And for that, he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Here's how De Seno recounts this prize-winning record:

January 20: Sworn in as president. Went to a parade. Partied.

January 21: Asked bureaucrats to re-write guidelines for information requests. Held an “open house” party at the White House.

January 22: Signed Executive Orders: Executive Branch workers to take ethics pledge; re-affirmed Army Field Manual techniques for interrogations; expressed desire to close Gitmo (how’s that working out?)

January 23: Ordered the release of federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries. Lunch with Joe Biden; met with Tim Geithner.

January 24: Budget meeting with economic team.

January 25: Skipped church.

January 26: Gave speech about jobs and energy. Met with Hillary Clinton. Attended Geithner's swearing in ceremony.

January 27: Met with Republicans. Spoke at a clock tower in Ohio.

January 28: Economic meetings in the morning, met with Defense secretary in the afternoon.

January 29: Signed Ledbetter Bill overturning Supreme Court decision on lawsuits over wages. Party in the State Room. Met with Biden.

January 30: Met economic advisers. Gave speech on Middle Class Working Families Task Force. Met with senior enlisted military officials.

January 31: Took the day off.

February 1: Skipped church. Threw a Super Bowl party.

So there you have it. The short path to the Nobel Peace Prize: Party, go to meetings, skip church, release federal funding to pay for abortions in foreign countries, party some more.

To which De Seno simply adds: "Good grief."

It looks like we've all just won the Nobel Booby Prize.

Nobel Logic

Sima Samar: women's rights activist in repressive, war-torn Afghanistan. No Nobel.

Dr. Denis Mukwege: founder of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu and champion of Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence. No Nobel.

Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: a coalition aimed at cleaning up cluster bombs and land mines around the world. No Nobel.

Hu Jia: a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government,currently serving a three-and-a-half-year prison term for "inciting subversion of state power." No Nobel.

Wei Jingsheng: another a human rights activist who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist totalitarian regime. No Nobel.

Barack Obama: novice American politician best known as the multinational abortion industry's favorite patron. Nobel Peace Prize.

The logic of this can only be summarized thusly: "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together. Goo goo ga joob."

Once Upon a Time

Louis Jennings was a pioneer in American journalism. The editor of the New York Times during the last decades of the nineteenth century, he helped to build the reputation that paper--ultimately making it the premier daily in the entire nation. He was also a committed Christian and a stalwart in the struggle for life.

On this day in 1870, Jennings began a crusade against abortion on the editorial pages of his paper that ultimately lead to the criminalization of the procedure in every state in the Union. He understood the power of the printed page and utilized it expertly. He knew only too well that it would be necessary to provoke a public outrage over the issue, not simply a stiffening of legislation that might go unenforced.

It was his leadership, and the national visibility of the Times that ultimately swayed both the legal and the medical establishments to publicly denounce abortion as murder--ultimately outlawing it in every state and territory in the land.

Of course, that was all long, long ago.

The Obama-Effect

It is not just the International Olympic Committee that President Barack Obama is having a hard time convincing these days. A new Pew Research Center Poll released today shows support for legal abortions has dropped precipitously since just last year. The poll joins a handful of others from earlier this year confirming there is a growing shift towards the pro-life perspective, largely exacerbated by Obama’s extremist position on abortion and his unprecedented action to dismantle legal protections for women, children, and families.

A majority of Americans now identify themselves as "Pro-Life." In addition, the number of Americans who favor making it more difficult to obtain an abortion is up six points in just two years.

In 2005, 59% of respondents agreed it would be good to reduce abortions. Today 65% take this view, an increase of six points.

And more than three-quarters--some 76%--continue to favor requiring minors to obtain the permission of a parent before having an abortion. 

The Pew poll also found fewer Americans, and fewer pro-life advocates are willing to compromise on abortion by finding some "middle ground." Indeed, support for finding a middle ground on the abortion issue is down 12 points among conservatives and six percent among all Americans.

Michael New, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, says the trend is very clear in the pro-life direction, as evidenced by the polling results. "This is consistent with other surveys released this spring by groups like Gallup which show that an increasingly higher percentage of Americans are willing to describe themselves as Pro-Life," he said.

All this is very bad news for a president and his administration--having seen his push for dramatic and radical change stymied at every turn. But then, that may well be good news for all of the rest of us.