First it was soccer, where everybody plays. Then it was no more red pens... because that makes the kids feel bad.
But it led to nothing being acheivement-based anymore... the hand-out guy has just gotten a hand out. If you communicate that you affirm the aspirations of change.... then you get the certificate for having changed something. As if awarding people in advance for not producing something will produce something. Hello.... socialism calling. Mediocrity. Shortages. Poverty. Exodus of wealth.
Let CNN tell you that it's an unearned downpayment on future performance:
(CNN) -- The surprise decision to award U.S. President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize elicited swift reaction Friday, with some hailing the choice and others expressing astonishment and skepticism.
Chairman of the Nobel peace prize committee Thorbjoen Jagland holds a picture of the 2009 winner.
Praise came from Afghanistan's president, the Israeli defense minister and even a senior official from Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that controls Gaza. Yet an Egyptian human rights activist said he was "shocked" that Obama won. And the Internet hummed with a range of views.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai -- whose U.S.-backed government is locked in warfare with Islamic militants -- praised the choice.
"We congratulate, wholeheartedly, President Obama on the award of this prestigious award," said Karzai, who commended Obama's "vision and leadership."
Yet Hisham Qasim, Egyptian democracy and human rights activist, said he was "shocked" Obama won.
"He has achieved nothing. He's stumbling. He hasn't achieved any of his promises and nothing is working. He promised to close Guantanamo and now that's not going to happen, and the Arab-Israeli conflict looks like it's going to get very nasty."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it gave the prize to Obama for his "efforts to strengthen international diplomacy," his "vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons" and for inspiring hope and creating "a new climate in international politics." Why Obama? Nobel committee chairman explains »
Many questioned what Obama had accomplished to deserve the award.
Gideon Rachman, a foreign affairs columnist for The Financial Times, wrote an online blog under the headline "What did Obama do to win the Nobel Peace Prize?"
"I am a genuine admirer of Obama. And I am very pleased that George W. Bush is no longer president. But I doubt that I am alone in wondering whether this award is slightly premature. It is hard to point to a single place where Obama's efforts have actually brought about peace -- Gaza, Iran, Sri Lanka? Watch the reaction from across Europe »
"While it is OK to give school children prizes for 'effort' -- my kids get them all the time -- I think international statesmen should probably be held to a higher standard," he wrote.
Obama has sought to make peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and officials from the Israeli government and Hamas sent congratulations and hope that the choice will help pave diplomatic ground.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said he believes the prize "will strengthen President Barack Obama's capability to contribute to regional peace in the Middle East, and to an agreement between us and the Palestinians that will bring security, growth and prosperity to all the nations in the region."
Hamas official Ahmed Yousef also congratulated Obama, "though it is early for him to be awarded this prize."
Yousef noted that in a June 4 speech in Cairo, Obama "reached out to the Muslim world ... and said many of the right things." Obama, Yousef said, "is a man who thinks of achieving world peace"
Yousef said he believes Obama represents a "new era in American politics," but thinks "the president has done nothing to push forward peace between Israeli and Palestinians" even though the "intention is there ... it is an uphill battle with the Jewish lobby and Congress."
