You can watch it live here (h/t The Corner).
Adding to the list of events Obama won’t be attending,
- a dinner with the Nobel Peace Prize Committee
- a press conference
- a TV interview
Plus the other events I mentioned yesterday.
Nobel peace prize: Norwegians incensed over Barack Obama’s snubs
According to a poll published by the daily tabloid VG, 44% of Norwegians believe it was rude of Obama to cancel his scheduled lunch with King Harald, with only 34% saying they believe it was acceptable.
“Of all the things he is cancelling, I think the worst is cancelling the lunch with the king,” said Siv Jensen, the leader of the largest party in opposition, the populist Progress party. “This is a central part of our government system. He should respect the monarchy,” she told VG.
I like that: a progressive populist defending the monarch.
Anyhoo, like the fox with healthy self-esteem who said “Jumping after those grapes was a great workout even when I couldn’t reach any,”
The Norwegian Nobel committee, which awards the peace prize, dismissed the criticism. “We always knew that there were too many events in the programme. Obama has to govern the US and we were told early on that he could not commit to all of them,” said Geir Lundestad, secretary of the committee.
Rest assured the committee members know that Obama respects them in the morning.
Please note there will be no podcast today.
So what if the President had decided to send 40,000 troops to Afghanistan? Think that would have been a harder sell to the Nobel Prize Committee?
I’m thinking that 30K was the number that kept the Peace Prize from being rescinded. It is just not right to win the Nobel Peace Prize and take the advice of a 5 star general on conducting a war. If he would have gone with the 40K they would have pulled the award and, well, its double jeopardy with those Nobel Prizes – once they pull the first one for too many troops they never give another one even when you retire and have nothing better to do.
That’s our President – he knows how to work the ropes.