Judging from his impressive track record, President Barack Obama seems to be a natural champion. Not only does he have two Grammy awards, a senatorial victory, and a successful presidential bid under his belt, but he occupies the top spot on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful People list, and is also Time Magazine’s reigning Person of the Year. Clearly, he has been reaping the rewards that come with his position as the media’s darling, making him invincible in the eyes of the world.

However, in February, he was nominated for an award that he would not win. When public broadcaster NRK reported that Obama was among the 205 nominees for the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, the world was anticipating his first major defeat. Surely the Norwegian Nobel Institute, the body responsible for helping the Nobel Commitee choose the winner of this prestigious honor would consider his nomination to be for show and remove him from the short list of candidates. In fact, many of us had forgotten that our fledging president was even nominated when October rolled around and the Committee began its final deliberations. Well, we all got a wakeup call on October 9 when the news exploded out of Sweden that Obama had shown his propensity for winning once again.

In the aftermath of this stunning revelation, I began to seriously question what exactly Obama has done to earn this honor. I was not surprised to discover that I was not alone. After the initial shock, Americans scrambled to come up with an answer to this enigma, prompting Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland to explain the decision in a statement to the Associated Press, saying that Obama, “got the prize for what he has done,” and identified his efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world which “have contributed to…a world with less tension.” Now, I am not sure if they are getting the wrong news in Sweden or if the judgement of the committee is still hopelessly clouded by its love for the 48th American president, but this idea is preposterous.

Since the beginning of Obama’s presidency, the situation in the Middle East has disintegrated, not improved. While the U.S. has begun its withdrawals from Iraq under his command, there has been no increase in the region’s stability, and the war in Afghanistan has worsened. America’s relationship with Iran has gone downhill and Obama has even threatened the country with more sanctions if it continues its nuclear program.

In fact, his actions in the Middle East have brought about the antithesis of peace, making a mockery out of the award which was once held in  such high regard. Since the award has been given to some of the world’s greatest peacemakers, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mother Theresa, it was reasonable for the world to expect that the Committee would judge wisely once again. Instead, the fallout from this erroneous decision serves as a sign to the Nobel Committee to reassess its criteria for choosing the recipients of the prize.