No, this is not going to be reasonable or a crazy critique of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee for giving the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama, even if he is the head of state of the most at war nation (outside its own borders) in the world at the moment. After all, that wasn't his fault. Yes, it was given for potential, to apply political pressure, and for non-George W. Bush-ness. Read Greg Mankiw if you want a funnier satire than we can compose:

The surprise choice of first-year graduate student Quintus Pfuffnick
for the Nobel Prize in Economics drew praise from much of the world
Friday even as many pointed out the youthful economist has not yet
published anything in scholarly journals.

Although we have given Festival memberships away for moments of idiocy, this one is more lifetime achievement. The failure to give the award to the world's best known, effective pacifist* (i.e., Gandhi) is probably enough to qualify. Gandhi was beaten out for the prize in 1937 (The Viscount Cecil of Chelwood), 1938 (Nansen International Office for Refugees), 1939 (no award), 1947 (Friends SErvice Council and American Friends Service Committee), and 1948 (by no award). The prize in 1948 was not awarded due to "there was no suitable living candidate" that year.

The Nobel Peace Prize also puts one in some interesting company - we are judged by the company we keep- which is why the rugbyologist's brief memorial to Norman Borlaug shied away from his Nobel Peace Prize (1970) for the Green Revolution, but mostly for preventing India and Pakistan from going to
war by feeding everyone.

Here is an incomplete and annotated list of notable Nobel laureates:
Theodore Roosevelt (1906) - Negotiated a peace treaty and brutally suppressing Filipinos.
George Marshall (1953) - Bombed the living hell out of German civilians, but then rebuilt their houses.
Dag Hammarskjold (1961) - See, Gandhi, you can get this thing after you die, if you work for the UN.
Henry Kissinger (1973) - Got his country out of a war he helped escalate. Among other activities.
Anwar Sadat (1978) - Made a treaty after getting Egypt's butt kicked in war.
UN Peace Keepers (1988) - Ok, this was before they watched genocides and sexually exploited refugees.
Dalai Lama (1989) - No army, so pretty please make me the theorcratic dictator of Tibet again.
Mikhail Gorbachev (1990) - Tried really hard to do anything to keep the USSR together, and failed.
Arafat, Rabin, and Peres (1994) - Let's stop fighting for 20 minutes or so, ok? Cool.
United Nations (2001) - Kind of a slow year for peace, what with 9-11. Here, UN, for being you.
Jimmy Carter (2002) - He's a really nice guy.
IAEA (2005) - Did a great job of stopping nuclear proliferation in countries not named India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran.

The Festival of Idiots actually has a lot in common with the Nobel Peace Prize. The Festival inconsistently honors lifetime achievement (e.g., Dag Hammarskjold), recent activities, regardless of previous actions (e.g., George Marshall), ignoring the most deserving candidates (Kevin Trudeau is our Gandhi), and recognizing potential alone. We are happy to welcome our soulmate, Nobel Peace Prize Committee, to The Festival of Idiots. Here's hoping for another 100+ years of WTF moments.

HONORABLE MENTION: The Nobel Literature Prize Committee.

2010 EARLY PREDICTION: Irish National Liberation Army

GOOD IDEA: DA Henderson and Frank Fenner for the WHO Smallpox Eradication Program.

INTERESTING IDEA: Twitter - for dramatically demonstrating the role for social media in unifying the world at times of turmoil (i.e., the recent Iranian elections).

*While Gandhi's commitment to peace and non-violence is unquestioned, his sexual morality has, although this does not appear to be part of his exclusion from the Peace Prize.

**Hat tips to Mike White for letting me know that the Obama win was not an Onion gag and insisting on the Honorable Mention for literature, Chris Lawson for being the first, as far as I am aware, to suggest Henderson and Fenner, and econgirl for linking to Greg Mankiw.