Nobel Peace Prize: Reserved Exclusively for Politicians?

I don't like to be a naysayer but Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize - what's that about?

Ok, so he broke the 'glass ceiling' that may have existed for black Americans, or other minorities who complained about discrimination, but isn't awarding the Peace Prize taking these achievements too far?

The peace prize is now as political as the United Nations General Assembly. In the last decade it has been awarded to Al Gore, Mohammad Al Baradei, Shirin Ebadi and Kofi Annan among others. I am not suggesting they are not worthy recipients.

Just that they are politicians and not 'old school' humanitarians.

Martin Luther King Jr. received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. Read his Acceptance Speech here

Obama is now in the august company of Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. Those are the sort of names that I associate with making a difference to the dispossessed and weak – not politicians.

I am not an expert on US politics but I am aware that Obama's mercurial rise within the US Democratic Party was in no small way dependent on the Chicago Democratic Party machinery. I cannot imagine he managed the Chicago Democratic Party apparatus without dirtying his hands somewhere along the way.

Obama has been given a bonus for 'effort' and the revenue has yet to come. Let us hope he delivers on the promises he has made along the way.