"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the president for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize," wrote DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse.

Is the Nobel a 'down payment'?

October 10, 2009

Mitch Potter

U.S. President Barack Obama talks on the phone in the Oval Office in Washington, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, before speaking about winning the Nobel Peace Prize in the Rose Garden.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON–Apologies if you can't hear this. It is a bit noisy down here, what with the gales of unpleasant laughter drowning out Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize.

This White House must just hate Friday mornings. Last week, a big decision in Europe unexpectedly stripped Chicago of its Olympic dreams, exposing a red-faced Team Obama to a braying backlash.

And now, one Friday later, a big decision in Europe places the Nobel unexpectedly in the U.S. president's hands, exposing him to another fevered wave of domestic derision. Mocked for losing, mocked for winning – such is the incredible lightness of being Barack Obama, nine months along.

Don't get me wrong: As one who spent most of the Bush years boomeranging between Jerusalem, Baghdad, Kandahar and London, I can appreciate better than most the global motivations behind what amounts to the He's Not George Prize.

But as a resident of Washington today, I can't help but wonder whether a well-intentioned world realizes just how badly the domestic American worm is turning against this president.

And how unhelpful this latest global hug may prove, coming not simply prematurely but also from Europe, where this hopeful new era is not about to translate into so much as a smidgen of help for Obama where he needs it most – Afghanistan.

Obama's true believers will love this bauble. But it is everyone else the White House now is worried about, from those crucial swing voters waiting for the president to turn up his doing dial and make reality of lofty rhetoric, to the ferociously conservative noise machine determined to brand the president's every move an act of anti-Americanism.

Those are the votes that will count come next year's midterm elections, which will amount to a de facto referendum on Obama rule. And Europe, and the rest of us, will have no say.

Obama did about the only thing he could yesterday, downplaying the Nobel with I'm-not-worthy aplomb, pledging the $1.4 million windfall to charity.

"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honoured by this prize,'' Obama said.

"But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women and all Americans want to build, a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honour specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

"And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action."

The Norwegian Nobel Committee stunned the world, including the White House, by awarding Obama the peace prize, citing global optimism fostered by his calls for peace and cooperation.

The committee also praised Obama's pledges to reduce the world's cache of nuclear arms, ease American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthen the U.S. role in combating climate change.

The selection sparked a furious political debate.

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh said the world elites were urging Obama, "to not do the surge in Afghanistan, not take action against Iran and its nuclear program and to basically continue his intentions to emasculate the United States ... They love a weakened, neutered U.S. and this is their way of promoting that concept," he told Politico via email.

The Democratic National Committee responded by saying the Republicans would "put politics above patriotism at every turn."

"The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the president for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize," wrote DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse.

Some Washington analysts interpreted the Nobel as a "down payment" on great expectations. But it will also serve to elevate expectations the White House has been working hard to manage downward, given the paucity of results.

From Afghanistan, where the administration's most pressing foreign crisis festers with a series of grim options likely to involve more, not fewer, soldiers, to Jerusalem, where Obama's lead envoy ended his ninth attempt at shuttle-diplomacy Friday empty-handed.

Closer to home, Obama's vow to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay by January appears now to be wishful thinking.

Only on the question of Iran's nuclear ambitions is Team Obama's determined bid for broader engagement with international allies showing early results. But rapprochement remains fragile and the hardest work is still to come.

Non-Americans wedded to the Obama doctrine of soft power might want to withhold applause for their Nobel cause, mindful that what plays so well in Oslo or Toronto or beyond is a much harder sell stateside. Think of this Nobel as a massive Wall Street bonus for a performance still to come.

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'IT'S EXTREMELY WELL DESERVED'

"Some people say, and I understand it, isn't it premature? Too early? Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now. It is now that we have the opportunity to respond – all of us."
–Thorbjoern Jagland, Nobel committee chairman

"The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' It is unfortunate the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."
– Michael Steele, Republican National Committee chairman

"I think it's extremely well deserved ... I think it will take some time before people put together all the different moves that linked his speech at the UN on the abolishing of nuclear weapons, his shift on the missile defence program in Eastern Europe ... to joining the international consensus that confronted Iran to abide by the non-proliferation treaty."
– Former U.S. vice-president Al Gore (above) and 2007 Nobel winner

"Such a prize augments his capacity and reputation around the world, and that will help us accomplish things for all of humanity."
– Prime Minister Stephen Harper

"Amazingly enough, the Pulitzer Prize for Literature went to Sarah Palin for her stated intention 'to read a book someday.' "
– Richard Cohen, Washington Post