Obama's Nobel -- Share the Wealth

(No, I don't mean the money, though he certainly will start a foundation or institute or something.  Something modest, of course, $1.4 million doesn't go all that far.)

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Barack Obama is certainly a surprise, rightly catching even the inner circle of his tightly managed ruling bloc off-guard. The element of surprise is good for two reasons:

1. Surprises are nice.  I get very tired of a news cycle that insists on pre-gaming everything, such that the post-game is much more about the pre-game than it is about the event itself.  On the home front, if you've sent a kid to prom lately, you'll know what I mean.

2.  The surprise confirms that we don't control the Nobel committee (tell me I'm not being naive here). 

Even Obama's fans seemed, like me, to receive this news with a bit of a blush.