Awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama in 2009 was “premature” and based on unfulfilled promises rather than meaningful actions, an American social issues journalist says.
“I do think the peace prize was a little premature; I think there were others that were more worthy, who have done a lot of work,” said Walter M. Brasch, who is also a university professor of journalism and author of 17 books.
“There are so many more people out there who have been working hard for peace,” Brasch told Press TV on Friday.
Mr. Brasch said US Secretary of State John Kerry is more worthy of the peace prize than Obama for his efforts in leading the American negotiating team in the nuclear talks between Iran and the P5+1 - the United States, Britain, Russia, China, France, and Germany.
The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama in Oslo Norway.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize on October 9, 2009, citing Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people" and “promotion of nuclear nonproliferation.”
However, the award was widely criticized in the United States and the rest of the world. It came just nine months after Obama became president.
The former secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee which awards the peace prize has said giving the prize to Obama was a “mistake.”
"Even many of Obama's supporters thought the prize was a mistake," Geir Lundestad writes in a book released on Thursday.
Obama may be one of the most controversial recent winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, but he is not the first. The prize has, for most of its history, been the subject of controversies due to its political nature.