My sweet Nobel

So, Barack Obama wins the Nobel Peace Prize. As best as I can figure, this can only mean one of two things:

1) The previous administration set such a low bar that anyone else looks like Jesus and Buddha put together by comparison.

Or

2) The rest of the world has basically said to America, "Look, we'll give you whatever trinket you want, just please stop blowing stuff up."

The Nobel Peace Prize, of course, doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot. The committee is apparently obligated to award it to someone every year, and there sadly aren't enough people who actually deserve it. Hell, they awarded one to this guy, so you know this isn't the worst choice they've ever made.

Conservatives are naturally unsure of what to make of this given their hate-hate relationship with the rest of the planet. It was just last week, after all, that they crowed about the international smackdown delivered to Obama by the Olympics. The result is also interesting in light of this poll showing the United States is apparently the most-admired nation in the world once again in the post-Bush era. Righties, and many Sensible Liberals, believe as an article of faith that many global surveys, like the infamous World Health Organization rankings or Reporters without Borders' press freedom survey, are skewed because of the rest of the planet's irreversible 'Murica-hatin' syndrome. As it turns out, the rest of the world apparently likes many Americans, it merely shares a mutual hate society with American conservatives.