In his excerpts of his autobiography Secretary of Peace, which have been seen by the Associated Press, Geri Lundestad writes: “Even many of Obama’s supporters thought the prize was a mistake”.
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Geir Lundestad, who acted as the committee’s non-voting but influential secretary from 1990 to 2015 wrote in his memoirs that the prize, expected to boost Obama, was instead met with harsh criticism, with many arguing that he has not done anything to show that he was worthy of the award.
Mr Lundestad said the decision was the most controversial in all his years as director of the institute, which is usually very secretive about its decisions.
“In that sense the committee did not achieve what it hoped for”.
But the committee had defended its action, saying that Obama was awarded the prize because of his focus on worldwide diplomacy and his vision for nuclear disarmament.
The award, which came just nine months after Obama became president, was widely criticized in the United States and rest of the world.
“His cabinet … asked whether anyone had previously refused to travel to Oslo to receive the prize”, Lundestad said. “In broad strokes, the answer was no”, Lundestad noted.
Barack Obama with Thorbjørn Jagland at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
“In the White House they quickly realized that they needed to travel to Oslo”, he added.
Meanwhile, as media interest in Lundestad’s memoir ran high, the Norwegian historian called a press conference to deny the impression that he implied Mr Obama did not deserve the prize.
“In hindsight, we could say that the argument of giving Obama a helping hand was only partially correct”, he wrote, according to VG newspaper.
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The Nobel Peace Prize, an award that was established in 1901 to recognize outstanding achievement on behalf of mankind, a century later seems to have morphed into Norway’s magic geopolitical wand, wielded to encourage political action, rather than reward accomplishment. But in the book Lundestad also fired a parting shot at Thorbjorn Jagland who was the committee chairman for six years and is now a regular member.
