"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said at the White House. "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."
Perhaps President Obama sees it as a manipulation and a bribe. The Constitution, Article I, Section 9, that says:
No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States: and no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, accept of present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or,foreign state.
"Unlike the other Nobel Prizes, which are awarded by Swedish institutions, the peace prize is given out by the five-member committee elected by the Norwegian Parliament," according to the Huffington Post.
It is also a violation of the US Code to accept gifts of over $100 under:
Receipt and disposition of foreign gifts and decorations
TITLE 5 > PART III > Subpart F > CHAPTER 73 > SUBCHAPTER IV > § 7342. Receipt and disposition of foreign gifts and decorations (a) For the purpose of this section— (1) “employee” means— (E) the President and the Vice President;
The nominations can come from any foreign state, though. Those nominations are a secret for fifty years and it must have been made before February 1st of 2009.
Therefore, we will not know who nominated President Obama until 2059. We do know it was likely done after his November election and before February, but it could have been a nomination by Hugo Chavez, Kim Jung Il, Dmitry Medvedev, and any other totalitarian despot.
Alfred Nobel stipulated that the peace prize should go to the "person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."
Most work? Best work? Abolition or reductiong of standing armies? Formation AND spreading of peace congresses? Perhaps it is hard to argue when weasel words like most and best are used.
It has not been approved by Congress and yet the money from it has been designated to go to a charity. It is, therefore, a case of President Obama failing to keep his oath to support and defend the Constitution by accepting the Nobel Prize without the approval of Congress.
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