A Nobel President
(Reuters)
A delicate balance of war, peace, domestic worries and international honor faced President Obama as he traveled to Oslo, Norway on Thursday to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. The president decided to skip some of the more ornate trappings associated with the awards ceremony and instead stuck almost exclusively to delivering a speech aimed at appeasing both a restless international community and a worried American public before leaving for the Copenhagen climate summit.
While the president came to accept a prize of peace, it was hard to ignore the contrast between that honor and his recent decision to send 30,000 more U.S. troops to the conflict in Afghanistan in n unprecedented build-up of a war launched by his predecessor as commander-in-chief. It is a juggling act that Obama addressed in his speech in Oslo, seeking to portray the Afghan war as a “morally justified” confrontation and explaining to an increasingly agitated international community his ideas of a “just war”to go along with a “just peace.”
President Obama, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize here on Thursday, acknowledged the age-old tensions between war and peace but argued that his recent decision to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan was justified to protect the world from terrorism and extremism.
“We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth,” Mr. Obama said. “We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”
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“I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war. What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace.”
Added to the controversy over President Obama’s honor of peace as he recommits the United States to a war was the question of worthiness; whether or not the president deserved a Nobel in his first year in office. This is an angle especially important at home, where Republican and conservative critics have railed against the president ever since the announcement was made, putting that crowd in the odd position of being in agreement with the left-wing branches of the global community who also question Obama’s receipt of the honor.
Realizing the need to speak to an American audience as much as the crowd of Euro dignitaries in front of him, the president made an effort to play up his “great humility” and acknowledged the questions over how much he actually deserved the Nobel, noting that his “accomplishments are slight.”
In a ceremony at Oslo City Hall, Mr. Obama was formally welcomed into the ranks of Nobel laureates who have won the prize, which was established 108 years ago. He said he accepted the award with “deep gratitude and great humility,” conceding it could be seen as premature.
“I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage,” Mr. Obama said. “Compared to some of the giants of history who have received this prize — Schweitzer and King, Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight.”
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“I have no doubt that there are others who may be more deserving,” Mr. Obama said. “My task here is to continue on the path that I believe is not only important for America, but important for lasting peace and security in the world.”
There were also moments in the speech where the president seemed to be taking clear shots at increasingly noisy critics of his foreign policy, trying to silence conservative enemies who have taken issue with such trifles as a bow to a foreign leader or others like Dick Cheney, who has stirred new controversy by implying the Obama administration’s policies are giving “aid and comfort” to foes like al Qaeda.
Aiming at those critics who will challenge the president’s honor as a surrender to global interests, Obama invoked the memory of the role of the United States in working for world peace through the “blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms” and pledged to advance “American interests” around the world.
“Whatever mistakes we have made, the plain fact is this,” Mr. Obama said. “The United States of America has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms.”
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“The goal is not to win a popularity contest or to get an award — even one as esteemed as the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mr. Obama said. “The goal is to advance American interests, make ourselves a continuing force for good in the world — something that we have been for decades now.”
While the president can hardly be faulted for the receipt of a prize over which he has no control and should be forgiven for not wanting to insult the world by snubbing the Nobel, it is hardly a stretch to say that both he and the White House are rather pleased that this entire affair is over. Winning the battle for health care legislation is far more important than a Norwegian medal.
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President Obama opted out of dinner and the glamour because he doesn’t want to look like a total hypocrite. He could have declined it (or at least say that he is only accepting it on behalf of the American people)–President Obama, is that so hard to figure out?