Kirsten Powers: President Obama should return his Nobel Peace Prize

Democrat Kirsten Powers appeared on Bill O’Reilly’s show Wednesday and offered up this suggestion for our celebrity President after a question on the issue came up during a press conference in Sweden:

This is a RUSH transcript from “The O’Reilly Factor,” September 4, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

O’REILLY:Β “Impact Segment” tonight, President Obama and Swedish Prime Minister Reinfeldt held a joint press conference today in Stockholm Syria dominated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[SWEDISH REPORTER] BJERSTROM:Β Could you describe the dilemma to be a Nobel Peace Prize Winner and getting ready to attack Syria?

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES:Β When I see 400 children subjected to gas, over 1,400 innocent civilians dying senselessly, in an environment in which you already have tens of thousands dying and we have the opportunity to take some action that is meaningful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O’REILLY:Β The President went on but did not directly address the reporter’s question about the peace prize.

Joining us from Washington is Republican strategist Kate Obenshain and Democrat Kirsten Powers also a Fox News analyst. So should the President give back his peace prize Powers?

KIRSTEN POWERS, FOX NEWS POLITICAL ANALYST:Β Yes. He should have given it back a long time ago, actually. But you know for the drone war, for the escalating the war in Afghanistan. Having all these people die unnecessarily, plenty of civilians have been killed by his drone war, including children.

So, estimated 200 children are being killed by the drone war.

(CROSSTALK)

O’REILLY:Β Where did — where did you get that fact? Where did you get the 200?

POWERS:Β The Bureau of — Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

O’REILLY:Β Who?

POWERS:Β Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Look it up, Bill.

Watch video of the segment below:

I don’t know if Powers’ stats on children killed by drones are accurate, and furthermore don’t necessarily think it’s fair to hold unintended civilian casualties against any President in the unfortunate context of what happens during a war, but the question of whether or not he should return his Nobel Peace Prize is an interesting one in light of the President’s push for military action in Syria. Β  Remember, too, that the President was more or less awarded the prize for what he was supposedly going to do as far as international/diplomatic relations went, more so than what he had previously done (his resume was quite thin prior to becoming elected President, if you’ll recall). Β Also interestingly enough, the Prize was awarded to him, in part, based on Obama’s previous insistence on involving the United Nations in international efforts. Β Fast forward to now, where President, in so many words, has suggested he will do what he believes needs to be done in Syria regardless of whether or not the UN decides to come on board (it won’t).

To be sure, to conservatives rightly believe that the Nobel Peace Prize has been worthless for decades -especially since terrorist thug Yasser Arafat won it in 1994, but you have to look at the prize from the mindset of elitist liberals who view the mere nomination for this prize in and of itself as absolutely everything. Β To even have the sheer audacity to question our coddled “leader of the free world” on the issue of whether or not he should return a coveted-by-the-left prize that used to be explicitly for people who promoted peaceful solutions rather than military ones was probably deeply offensive to him, his handlers, and his cult-like devotees who view any deviation from the “greatest President evah!!!!” script as tantamount to heresy.

In the grand scheme of things we know President Obama will never return this prize because it, like so many other grandiose accolades he has received over the course of his political career, gives him – more importantly, his ego – Β a sense of great self-importance and accomplishment that in reality he hasn’t earned. Β I don’t begrudge him for holding on to it, really. If I had nothing to show from my decades in political office beyond meaningless awards and puffed-up prizes, I would, too.

For the latest developments on Syria both stateside and abroad, click here.

President Obama & the Nobel Peace Prize
This ”prize” – and this President – have become an international embarrassment.

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