The Swedish Nobel Committee announced today that President Barack Obama had been awarded its prestigious Not-Being-George-W-Bush Prize for 2009.

While the committee noted that Obama has successfully not been George W. Bush for the past five decades or so, it emphasized the fact of his not being George W. Bush since January of this year, and the likelihood that he would not be George W. Bush for the foreseeable future, as the primary reasons for its award.

Some critics charged that Obama has in fact been a lot like George W. Bush, though not actually George W. Bush, during the past nine months, and that there were many others who are more clearly not Bush and so might be more deserving of the prize.  For his part, Obama simply stated that he was "surprised" and "humbled" by the award, and that he would do his best to continue to not be George W. Bush for the foreseeable future.

Some had predicted that Obama would instead win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, but with hindsight that was dismissed as wild and implausible speculation.

Link: New York Times