it<u+2019>s been seven years, give or take 48 hours, since the norwegian nobel committee announced it was awarding the peace prize to a young president obama. <u+201c>yasser arafat won a nobel peace prize, too,<u+201d> this column remarked on oct.<u+00a0>9, 2009: for the benefit of our younger readers, the beer summit was a july 2009 effort to improve relations between black americans and police. at seven years<u+2019> remove, it seems fair to characterize it as having been less than an unqualified success. this year the committee went with a more conventional peace prize choice, a head of state with an actual peace agreement under his belt. here<u+2019>s the announcement : what<u+2019>s wrong with this picture? no doubt you know the answer, as our readers are all brilliant and well-informed. but if max boot<u+2019>s friend<u+2019>s personal trainer , who is merely bright and personable, were reading the announcement, she<u+2019>d probably be puzzled by the tentativeness of its language. <u+201c>resolute efforts<u+00a0>.<u+00a0>.<u+00a0>. have not given up hope<u+00a0>.<u+00a0>.<u+00a0>. consistently sought to move the peace process forward.<u+201d> they made an agreement! isn<u+2019>t that enough? no, as the press release goes on to explain: oops. this does end up looking something like the 1994 nobel peace prize , the one arafat shared with yitzhak rabin and shimon peres, then respectively prime minister and foreign minister of israel. <u+201c>by concluding the oslo accords, and subsequently following them up, arafat, peres and rabin have made substantial contributions to a historic process through which peace and cooperation can replace war and hate,<u+201d> the norwegians announced back then. follow james on twitter but they acknowledged the accords were a mere promise of peace, not the real thing: <u+201c>it is the committee<u+2019>s hope that the award will serve as an encouragement to all the israelis and palestinians who are endeavouring to establish lasting peace in the region.<u+201d> that worked out about as well as the beer summit. at least the norwegians this year didn<u+2019>t repeat the mistake of splitting the award between the good guys and the bad guys. still, it<u+2019>s bizarre that they<u+2019>d give it to santos just five days after the referendum was voted down<u+2014>literally, a medal for trying. in that regard, this year<u+2019>s prize also follows the 2009 obama precedent . back then the committee was filled with hope: and how did it work out? not well, according to the associated press : the ap reported in september 2015 that the committee<u+2019>s departing secretary (who does not have a vote on the awarding of the prize) was critical of the award to the president: we too noted obama<u+2019>s evident embarrassment the day the award was announced. it speaks well of the president that he inquired about getting out of the ceremony, though as a practical matter actually skipping it would have made him look more like an egomaniac than showing up. as for this year<u+2019>s award, one wonders what would have happened if the colombia referendum had been scheduled for this sunday rather than last. certainly the norwegians wouldn<u+2019>t have looked as ridiculous, at least not right away. maybe the prize would have given a boost to the <u+201c>yes<u+201d> side and tipped the balance in what was a very close outcome (50.2% to 49.8%). oh well, what<u+2019>s done is done. and if the nobel committee wanted to influence the outcome of future balloting, they<u+2019>d have given the prize to hillary clinton for her resolute efforts to save the world from donald trump. two young-adult websites in one! metaphor alert <u+201c><u+00a0><u+2018>the clinton campaign has cracked the trump code; nobody in the primary could. she<u+2019>s figured out how to bait him, hook him and reel him into the boat ,<u+2019> said michael caputo, a former trump aide. but he saw in mr. pence<u+2019>s disciplined performance <u+2018>a unique window to reboot the message, come out swinging and regain the momentum .<u+2019><u+00a0><u+201d><u+2014>the wall street journal, oct.<u+00a0>6 fox butterfield, is that you? <u+201c>though finn is a virtual unknown outside the beltway, she has been an outspoken member of the d.c.-centric #nevertrump movement.<u+201d><u+2014>mckay coppins, buzzfeed, oct.<u+00a0>6 we blame george w. bush <u+201c>can<u+2019>t make this up: ezekiel emanuel blames the gop and marco rubio for obamacare problems<u+201d><u+2014>headline, twitchy, oct.<u+00a0>6 what could go wrong? <u+201c>pence debate advice to trump: be yourself<u+201d><u+2014>headline, politico.com, oct.<u+00a0>6 hypothesis and disproof it<u+2019>s a cookbook <u+201c>u2<u+2032>s bono skewers donald trump on stage<u+201d><u+2014>headline, the wall street journal, oct.<u+00a0>7 gentlemen, you can<u+2019>t fight in here! this is the war room <u+201c>so even though they<u+2019>re a small country, they really punch above their weight when it comes to peacekeeping.<u+201d><u+2014>u.s. deputy defense secretary bob work on finland, oct.<u+00a0>7 with dnc in mind, city bans carrying urine, feces <u+201c>vox sentences: evacuate, evacuate, evacuate<u+201d><u+2014>headline, vox, oct.<u+00a0>6 nobody ever got younger <u+201c>why are nobel prize winners getting older?<u+201d><u+2014>headline, bbc website, oct.<u+00a0>7 hey, kids! what time is it? <u+201c>moms, it<u+2019>s time we stopped enabling the bumbling dads<u+201d><u+2014>headline, salon, oct.<u+00a0>6 question and answer everything seemingly is spinning out of control <u+201c>after the robbery, kim kardashian won<u+2019>t post as many selfies<u+201d><u+2014>headline, federalist, oct.<u+00a0>6 news of the tautological <u+201c>senior [u.s.] military aide used government credit card at strip clubs, had <u+2018>improper interactions<u+2019> with women: pentagon report<u+201d><u+2014>headline, toronto sun, oct.<u+00a0>6 news you can use <u+201c>christians shouldn<u+2019>t approach today<u+2019>s world as if it<u+2019>s pagan rome<u+201d><u+2014>headline, federalist, oct.<u+00a0>6 bottom story of the day <u+201c>gop poised to gain a few illinois statehouse seats, but little will change<u+201d><u+2014>headline, chicago tribune, oct.<u+00a0>6 is civilization doomed? <u+201c>bottle flipping becomes the rage with middle schoolers,<u+201d> according to a headline in the boston globe: you might ask: it<u+2019>s only middle schoolers, so who cares? but remember, our children are our future. in this year of trump, this column has resisted our media colleagues<u+2019> tendency to catastrophize. but this story is nearly enough to push us over the edge. follow @jamestaranto on twitter. join fans of best of the web today on facebook. subscribe to the best of the web email with one click. (carol muller helps compile best of the web. thanks to richard belzer, eduardo vidal, michael segal, mordecai bobrowsky, mike lavender, brian warner, tim graham, debbie wells, wesley hartline, mark brickell, tony lima, mark nicholas, ethel fenig, macrena sailor, kevin burns, jeryl bier, james benenson and wes van fleet. if you have a tip, write us at opinionjournal@wsj.com , and please include the url.)
a medal for trying - wsj
james taranto