A peace challenge, not a peace prize
| Friday, Oct 09 2009 07:55 PM
Last Updated Friday, Oct 09 2009 07:55 PM
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If the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to President Barack Obama based on his diplomatic achievements of the past nine months, they've been smoking too much herring. Obama's admirable pursuit of peace deserves the world's support, but Nobel-caliber success is not yet something he can claim -- even if, astonishingly, he is suddenly eligible to claim the Nobel prize itself.
Obama seemed to admit as much when his award was announced Friday: "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 honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."
If the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its prize to Obama based on optimism about his potential, the choice may have been appropriate. But is that what the Nobel is for?
If history is an indicator, yes -- at least sometimes. Woodrow Wilson won the 1919 Peace Prize for his role in creating the League of Nations, a work in progress at that time that ultimately failed. West German Chancellor Willy Brandt won in 1971 for his "Ostpolitik" policy of reconciliation with communist Eastern Europe, an effort that bore little fruit over the next two decades. Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin shared the Peace Prize in 1994 for "their efforts to create peace in the Middle East" -- a tenuous peace that Arafat himself helped sabotage.
But the 1994 Nobel Committee's comments hold meaning today: "The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded both in recognition of efforts which have been made, and to encourage still further efforts. There can be no doubt that that is also how Alfred Nobel intended the prize to work."
Has Obama approached the hard-won progress of those and other recipients? No, but he has begun to change the world's perception of the United States and set the tone for a new era in international relations. To detractors, Obama's overtures toward Russia, the Middle East (including Iran) and other regions of past and present difficulty are evidence of weakness. But to the Nobel Committee, at least, they are clearly signs of strength and promise.
The committee's decision is a reflection of just how badly the world wants to embrace the United States once again, particularly after eight difficult years of George W. Bush's "decider" diplomacy.
Much of the world, especially Europe, still looks up to the U.S. -- and depends on this nation to seize the role that fate has assigned it. As surprising as the award may have been, Americans should feel honored. But most of all, we should feel humbled by the responsibility and challenge it implies.
