Bruce Wolman reads the Norwegian press, in Norwegian:
VG had an article today which states that the two right-wing members of the Nobel committee and the socialist member were all initially opposed to giving the award to Obama, but that chairman Thorbjorn Jageland was adamant. The two right-wingers had strong doubts that Obama would really manage to follow up his strong international engagement. The right-wing populist had the strongest objections, believing it was much too early in his term to be honoring Obama. The socialist considered Obama’s engagement in Afghanistan to be a problem.
But Jageland strongly steered the committee towards Obama with the steadfast support of the other Labor Party member. Apparently, the three opposition members split on their reasons for the opposition– too early vs Afghanistan–and gave up their resistance.
So it really did have Jageland’s hands all over it. And makes Matt Taibbi’s analysis even more on the mark. But I still argue that the award was an endorsement of diplomacy (the anti-Bush doctrine), nuclear disarmament and an effort to box Obama in on Iran.
