The Presidential Planner Abroad
EmailFrom Sunlen Miller:
OSLO, NORWAY – Less than a year into his presidency, President Obama on Thursday will accept the prestigious Nobel Peace prize in Oslo, Norway The President and the First Lady will participate in a whole day of festivities centered on celebrating the president’s win.
After flying overnight the First Couple will head straight to the Norwegian Nobel Institute where they will participate in a signing ceremony. Mr. Obama will sign a book which previous winners of the peace prize have also signed.
The president will meet with the Prime Minister of Norway, Jens Stoltenberg at his office. The two leaders will make a joint statement to press after their one-on-one meeting.
Afterward the First couple will meet with the King and Queen – King Harald V and Queen Sonja at the Royal Palace in Oslo.
Then it’s onto the main event – a ceremony steeped in tradition, the formal awarding and acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize at the Oslo City Hall. Within his speech, Mr. Obama is expected to discuss the “elephant in the room,” reports ABC’s Jake Tapper – his decision to deploy 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan when he accepts the peace prize.
In the evening, as is tradition, the President and First Lady will attend the Nobel Banquet at the Grand Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Obama will spend the night in Oslo and are anticipated to return to Washington, D.C. on Friday.
-Sunlen Miller
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Apparently the Norwegians are a little unhappy about Obama coming. I wonder if he will he be chased through the weeds like those 10,000 Swedes?
Posted by: Sigmonde | December 9, 2009, 10:01 pm 10:01 pm
At least it will be in Oslo, not Vienna…where the President believed they spoke ‘Austrian’.
Posted by: J House | December 9, 2009, 10:10 pm 10:10 pm
From the UK Guardian today:
“Barack Obama’s trip to Oslo to pick up his Nobel peace award is in danger of being overshadowed by a row over the cancellation of a series of events normally attended by the prizewinner.
Norwegians are incensed over what they view as his shabby response to the prize by cutting short his visit.
The White House has cancelled many of the events peace prize laureates traditionally submit to, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel committee, a press conference, a television interview, appearances at a children’s event promoting peace and a music concert, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honour at the Nobel peace centre.
He has also turned down a lunch invitation from the King of Norway.
According to a poll published by the daily tabloid VG, 44% of Norwegians believe it was rude of Obama to cancel his scheduled lunch with King Harald, with only 34% saying they believe it was acceptable.”
LOL!! Looks like Norwegians believed in Hope and Change too. Maybe they should award him a second Nobel Peace Prize.
Idiots.
Posted by: Mary | December 9, 2009, 10:41 pm 10:41 pm
Obama need to cap and/or trade to justify the carbon for this trip. Our leaders need to telecommute. We are broke and the carbon, oh the carbon….
Posted by: Huh | December 9, 2009, 10:56 pm 10:56 pm
I wonder if this will be the first “teleprompter – assisted” acceptance of the award.
Posted by: Terry | December 9, 2009, 11:02 pm 11:02 pm
” . . . stateside Obama-bashers would no doubt whine about the president’s skewed priorities were he to party at a Norwegian concert while two wars rage and the economy continues to flat-line.”
LATimes
Posted by: tierra | December 9, 2009, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
Hysterical.
Posted by: bobmac | December 9, 2009, 11:30 pm 11:30 pm
I’d like the LATimes (and our old pal Tieranita) to know that I am a stateside Obama basher, but I would not have complained if he had submitted to the whole ceremonial rigamarole. It is what one does when one has been given this honor. If one is going to accept the prize, then one should be courteous enough to accept all the ritual that goes along with it.
I remember the concert given when Gore won the prize. I thought Gore no more deserving of the peace prize thatn Obama is, but I thought it was nifty that the winner always gets to chose one of the performers and Gore invited Melissa Etheridge. Wonder if President Obama bothered to chose anyone, since he won’t be attending the concert.
I really do not understand some of the stylistic choices the WH makes sometimes, and this is one of those times. He’ll gladly show up and make a speech, but he won’t open his exhibit at the museum or sit through the concert in his honor? That’s not nice.
Posted by: moderate | December 9, 2009, 11:52 pm 11:52 pm
Posted by: moderate | Dec 9, 2009 11:52:09 PM
Just goes to show you, regardless of what Obama does the haters will jump on him.
He goes to receive the coffins of fallen soldiers – he’s awful. He takes his children for ice cream – he’s awful. He decorates the White House for Christmas – he’s awful. He goes to accept the Nobel prize – he’s awful.
Sad lot of Americans.
Posted by: tierra | December 10, 2009, 1:42 am 1:42 am
Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness.
It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.
Edith Sitwell
(1887 – 1964),
Taken Care Of ,1965
Posted by: Saya Koy | December 10, 2009, 3:55 am 3:55 am
Tieranita, just for the record, I myself did NOT complain about the president eating ice cream with his kids, or visiting the coffins. I wrote positively about the WH Christmas decorations, and also, earlier, about the social events he was having early on to get Washington types mixing with one another on weeknights at the WH. I do NOT automatically complain about everything the man does, just about most of his policy decisions. *G*
And I did not complain about him going to Oslo. Just the opposite. I felt he did not deserve the prize this year, but once he was awarded it, I argued he should have fully participated in the same ceremonies and rituals that previous winners had done. Go, as he needed to do, and be gracious about it.
So I’m not sure why you chose to glom onto my comments, in particular, to trot out your usual complaints about people who do not praise the president’s every move. “Sad lot of Americans”? Really? I was thinking a diverse population with a wide variety of opinions, freely and openly expressed.
Posted by: moderate | December 10, 2009, 8:47 am 8:47 am
We have two wars going and the man prosecuting them is being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. That’s awful.
Also what does any of that have to do with him being told it’s awful when he takes his kids to get ice cream? Oh no, the horror, the inhumanity. How could anyone ever survive being told it’s awful when they take their kids to get ice cream? Gosh what a hard lot.
Sooo much harder than, I don’t know, the almost 100,000 young Americans we’re about to have literally camping out and sitting in muddy trenches in Afghanistan because we, admittedly, aren’t going to have the infrastructure in place over there in time to put them all on bases. And oh yeah, they’re getitng shot at.
But, as usual, you’re right, Obama has it sooo much harder than everyone else. Or the average American getting their house foreclosed on. You want to bet if they’d rather just be made fun of for taking their kids for ice cream?
The guy is the President. It’s tough for everyone out there. He doesn’t need pity at every turn. The fact that he’s getting a Nobel Peace Prize while running two wars, ought to be ENOUGH of a consolation prize. So, please, stop whining on his behalf every time someone doesn’t want to “feel his pain.”
Posted by: John | December 10, 2009, 10:49 am 10:49 am
Posted by: John | Dec 10, 2009 10:49:32 AM
Same old nonsense – the anti-Obama types criticize whatever he does. If he visits wounded soldiers – he’s awful. If he recieves coffins of fallen soldiers – he’s awful. If he goes to Fort Hood to participate in ceremonies for the fallen there – he’s awful. If he supports health care reform – he’s awful .. . etc, etc. etc.
The fear and smear campaign continues . . . it’s pretty much all the right wing has – and certainly what they show here.
Posted by: tierra | December 10, 2009, 3:12 pm 3:12 pm