They are not celebrating B.O.'s non existent achievements, they are encouraging him to deliver on what he has promised, most lately in his speech in Cairo. In effect they are taking a proactive role, hoping to nudge him into doing the right thing.

You can be cynical and believe anything he claims to stand for as yet another list of empty promises. I certainly don't believe in fairies and angles myself. It doesn't do anyone any good, though. It's more productive to wager that there's a chance, however tiny, that he means well and that he might do good. That's not something you could even begin to contemplate for a Bush, a Sarkozy or a Berlusconi.

Sure, he's likely to turn out like a Bliar. But by giving him the Nobel prize, they could tap in a well known phenomenon in social psychology, the forces of cognitive dissonance, whereby someone tends to behave according to the way one sees oneself.

I disagree with Chomsky when he says he's proven to be no different than the Bush clique. The fact is, assuming Obama is well meaning and want to change things, he cannot do things much differently than what he's doing now. He's not a dictator, and there are powerful forces perpetuating the fucked up status quo in US politics. Take the militaro-industrial complex; it'd be great if he could instantly stop wasting hundreds of billions in military spending a year. But weapon makers have made sure to place their factories all over the States, making sure that every single plant closure will be opposed by the local senators / congressmen.

By giving him that prize, they are giving him a responsibility. He might just be ever so slightly more likely to oppose the militaro industrial complex. Or not. But it's better than nothing.

A 'centrist' is someone who's neither on the left, nor on the left.

Uh? I can't see many recipients (or non-recipients) in the history of the Royal Academy of Sweden prize who were worthier of it than Paul Krugman.

Unless the requisite is to create a theory that proves to be entirely wrong at every point.

Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed. Gandhi