Well, I have to disagree with you on one small point. It's normal to nominate the POTUS for one thing. And regardless of his contributions at that point, the decision was made much later, when Obama had more time to make some tangible contribution.
That said, I don't consider Obama deserving of this honor. As for it being a slow year for suitable nominees...anything but.
http://www.israpundit.com/2008/?p=17501
Dr. Denis Mukwege
Denis Mukwege (born 1 March 1955) is a Congolese gynecologist. Working in Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been gang-raped by Congolese militia, Mukwege has probably become the worlds leading expert on how to repair the internal physical damage caused by gang rape.[1] He has treated 21,000 women during the Congos 12-year war, some of them more than once, performing up to 10 surgeries a day during his 18-hour working days.
Sima Samar, womens rights activist in Afghanistan:
Dr. Samar publicly refuses to accept that women must be kept in purdah (secluded from the public) and speaks out against the wearing of the burqa (head-to-foot wrap), which was enforced first by the fundamentalist mujahideen and then by the Taliban. She also has drawn attention to the fact that many women in Afghanistan suffer from osteomalacia, a softening of the bones, due to an inadequate diet. Wearing the burqa reduces exposure to sunlight and aggravates the situation for women suffering from osteomalacia.
Hu Jia
Hu Jia is an activist and dissident in the Peoples Republic of China. His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement, Chinese environmentalist movement, and HIV/AIDS in the Peoples Republic of China. For his activism, Hu has received awards from several European bodies, such as the Paris City Council[1] and the European Parliament, which awarded its Human Rights prize to him in December 2008.
Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition
We do not agree with the Cluster Munition Coalitions agenda of banning cluster munitions, which are used by the Armed Forces of the United States. Our understanding is that American munitions of this nature comply with the Geneva and Hague Conventions, and may even include bright warning flags to alert civilians to the possible presence of unexploded munitions. The truth is that unexploded munitions have been problems for more than a century. UXB (Unexploded Bomb) is still a menace in England because of the Luftwaffes activities during the Second World War, and probably in Germany as well. There are still places in Europe where an unwary person might be killed by something that was fired during the First World War, and even dangerous leftovers from the American Civil War have been discovered. The United States is moving to improve the safety of its cluster munitions by reducing the number of submunitions that fail to explode. Nonetheless, the Cluster Munition Coalition deserves recognition for drawing attention to this problem.
Wei Jingsheng
Wei Jingsheng is an activist in the Chinese democracy movement, most prominent for authoring the document Fifth Modernization on the Democracy Wall in Beijing in 1978.
SOS-Kinderdorf International
SOS Childrens Villages is an international non-governmental social development organisation that has been active in the field of childrens rights and committed to childrens needs and concerns since 1949. In 132 countries and territories our activities focus on children without parental care and children of families in difficult circumstances.
