2009 Nobel Peace Prize a disservice and a potential liability." An editorial in "The Washington Post" began, "It's an odd Nobel Peace Prize that almost makes you embarrassed for the honoree", and compared the Nobel Committee's statement that Obama had "created a new climate in international politics" to a recent satirical skit on television. A "Los Angeles Times" editorial said the committee "didn't just embarrass Obama, it diminished the credibility of the prize itself". Thomas L. Friedman of "The New York Times" wrote, "It dismays me that the most important prize in the world has been devalued in this way". Much of the commentary
Nobel Prize Nobel Prize The Nobel Prize (, ; Swedish definite form, singular: "Nobelpriset"; ) is a set of annual international awards bestowed in several categories by Swedish and Norwegian institutions in recognition of academic, cultural, or scientific advances. The will of the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel established the five Nobel prizes in 1895. The prizes in Chemistry, Literature, Peace, Physics, and Physiology or Medicine were first awarded in 1901. In 1968, Sweden's central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, established the "Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel", which, although not being a Nobel Prize, has become informally known as