THERE has been a long and illustrious line of US presidents who found themselves in the firing line, from General George Washington and those heated tête-à-têtes with the British over independence, to George Bush and the odd run-in with human beings in general.

As odds – or luck – would have it then (depending on whether you have found yourself at the business end of a GBU-28 Bunker-buster and seen your entire goatherd and a cousin or twelve being blown to kingdom come), many American presidents have been killed since old Abe Lincoln decided a night at the theatre was just what the doctor ordered after a hard day riling John Wilkes Booth and co.

Kennedy is the best known today of course, but that’s only because no other US premier has managed to attract a skirt of quality like Marilyn Munroe before or since. Clinton hardly merited a second glance for his dismal efforts with “that woman” in the Oval Office.

But now we have Mr Clean, Barack Obama, hailed as the next Mandela in his native land and a messiah who can stop Madonna poaching small African children. His first year in the White House and he is a Nobel Peace Prize winner – like taking candy from a kid, which in truth it is, given his predecessor.

The Nobel awards ceremony takes place in Oslo on Thursday, and CNN will be there to conduct a live interview with Obama. As many know, bestowing this honour on him has caused great consternation around the world, as pundits believe it has relegated the Nobel Prize to a popularity contest and nothing more. Obama is a fine orator, but dodging this bullet may be a bridge too far.

The interview will air at 3.30pm SA time.