After Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, the natural reaction was to compare him to MLK Jr., Nelson Mandela or Mother Theresa, a comparison that makes his win hard to defend.  Yet, the Nobel Prize is no stranger to controversy, even among seemingly uncontroversial choices.  Here are a few of the less deserving Peace prize winners.

Henry Kissinger, Winner in 1973 for negotiating end of Vietnam War

To be fair, the Nobel committee knew it was a controversial choice at the time.  Two of their members resigned in protest over it.  Yet, the decision to give the prize to the embodiment of realpolitik, the exact opposite of Alfred Nobel's goals of international cooperation, was an embarrassing lapse.  I think an argument can be made about whether or not Kissinger was one of the greatest diplomats in American history, but he was a terrible choice for the Peace Prize.  As Tom Lehrer famously remarked, political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yasser Arafat, Winner in 1994 for role in Oslo Peace Accords

Unquestionably, Arafat is the person who did the most to prevent peace between Israel and Palestine.  At every turn he was an unfair dealer, stoking violent Palestinian unrest even as he was negotiating with the Israelis.  He misappropriated billions of dollars in aid, caused the deaths of hundreds of Israelis and thousands of his own people and fouled the water on both sides perhaps beyond repair.  It is convienent to get to judge this award based on evidence accumulated since 1994, a time where there no doubt was more hope that the Oslo accords would be a game changer, still the award has tarnished badly in the past fifteen years.

Mother Theresa, winner in 1979 for her humanitarian work

She is often held up as an exemplar of a worthy laureate, but this is based around a very minimal understanding of what Agnese Gonxhe Bojaxhiu built in the world.  The hundreds of facilities throughout the world created in her image provide medical care and sustenance to some of the most miserably cared for people in the world, but her celebration of poverty as godliness led to a cult of destitution. Her medical centers were staffed by under-qualified people and did not stress anesthetics because she thought suffering was holy.  Money donated to her organization, some of which came from illegal sources like Charles Keating or Haitian dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier, often languished in bank accounts because she would not improve facilities to avoid any luxury, even the luxury of elevators for the disabled.  Her award was well intentioned, but nevertheless it makes one wonder about how deeply the Nobel committee researches the nominees.

Other Questionables: Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev