Nobel secretary regrets Obama peace prize

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to live up to expectations, the committee’s ex-secretary has said. In his memoir, Secretary of Peace, Geir Lundestad said the committee expected the prize to be a boost to Mr Obama. Instead, the decision was met with criticism in […]

The decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 failed to live up to expectations, the committee’s ex-secretary has said.
In his memoir, Secretary of Peace, Geir Lundestad said the committee expected the prize to be a boost to Mr Obama.
Instead, the decision was met with criticism in the US. Many argued he had not had any impact worthy of the award.
Mr Obama himself said he was surprised and even some of his supporters thought it a mistake, Mr Lundestad said.
Mr Lundestad served as the committee’s influential, but non-voting, secretary from 1990 to 2015. He has broken with the tradition of the secretive committee, whose members rarely discuss proceedings.
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 9.