2009 Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Peace Prize is a "premature canonization" and an "embarrassment to the Nobel process." "Slate magazine" blogger Mickey Kaus, "New York Times" columnist David Brooks and former U.N. ambassador John Bolton amongst others, called for Obama to not accept the award; pundit Michael Crowley argued that it was a "mixed blessing". Subsequent to the award many Americans now consider that Obama did not deserve it in the light of following events. Opponents of the award cite the expansion of the War on Terror and the large increase in the number of drone strikes carried out under Obama, specifically in Pakistan.
2010 Nobel Peace Prize while residing in China. Liu was the third person to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while in prison or detention after Germany's Carl von Ossietzky (1935) and Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi (1991). As the laureate was absent, Liu's place on the podium was unoccupied; Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann read "I Have No Enemies", an essay that Liu had written for his trial in December 2009, in place of the acceptance speech. The Nobel Committee disclosed there were a record number of nominations in 2010 – a total of 237, of which 38 were organisations. Although the committee has