So I’m in the heart of Obamanation this morning, the Greenmarket on West 97th Street in Manhattan. The woman standing next to me in line for some totally precious locally grown veggies asks what I think of Obama’s Nobel. “Seems a little premature,” I answer. She laughs, shakes her head, and we both start speculating on what could have possibly motivated the folks in Oslo. Was it just another way of dumping on George Bush? Do they understand that this will probably hurt Obama politically at home?
Then the farmer joins in. “Gandhi never won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was nominated again and again, but never won.”
“But Henry Kissinger did,” I say.
The farmer shakes his head. “Bah, Norwegians!”
(I should add here that I personally have nothing against Norwegians. And I’m very excited for Monday morning, when the Swedes are sure to award Obama the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.)