Analysis: Nobel Peace Prize Doesn't Help Obama

(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The Nobel Peace Prize committee wanted to help President Obama by awarding him the prestigious, $1.4 million award. Instead they've done the opposite.

The shocking decision by the five-person Norwegian committee to give the award to a young president isn't simply an affront to many of the accomplished and deserving candidates who were up for the award – among them embattled opposition leaders, womens right's activists, and dissidents who have faced imprisonment and torture – though it certainly is that. It is also a boon to the president's critics who have a new talking point in their efforts to derail Mr. Obama's ambitious domestic agenda.

There's a reason that John McCain's team cast then-candidate Obama as an international celebrity during the presidential campaign last year – it fed their preferred narrative that while Mr. Obama may have established a worldwide cult of personality, he did not necessarily prioritize the needs of his own countrymen. While McCain was pointedly portrayed as putting "country first" at the Republican National Convention, Mr. Obama was cast by McCain's camp as a Paris Hilton-like figure adored by Europeans and unconcerned with the challenges faced by everyday Americans.

Now those Europeans have awarded Mr. Obama, who has been in office less than one year, a prize that seems, at the very least, premature. The Nobel committee has said they chose the president in an effort to "contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do." And while their intensions might be good, the decision reflects a startling lack of understanding by committee members of political reality.

What the president is trying to do, at the moment, is pass contentious health care legislation. Giving him a prize that many will see as underserved – and that aligns him with European elites instead of average Americans – isn't going to help that effort. At the conservative National Review, they're already joking the president will next get Major League Baseball's Cy Young award.

And then there's the fact that awarding the prize to Mr. Obama will likely have little positive impact. The prize can be a real boon to recipients – it may be the reason that imprisoned Burmese pro-democracy activist and politician Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded it in 1991, is alive today. And it has been used in the past to push an agenda, with some degree of success – see Al Gore's 2007 win, a boost to his efforts to draw attention to climate change issues.

But it's no secret that the president is popular and respected around the world. Giving the prize to, say, Chinese dissidents Hu Kia or Wei Jingsheng would have put a spotlight on China's human rights record on the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre; giving it to Zimbabwean opposition leader and prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai could have aided his effort to finally wrest power away from the disastrous Robert Mugabe.

As for Mr. Obama, however – well, presumably it'll look good above the White House fireplace. There are already calls for the president to politely turn down the award, and in doing so spare himself the mockery sure to come if he travels to Norway to accept it and give another speech on the international stage.

Former Norwegian Nobel Committee Geir Lundestad once asked why the world takes "such an interest in what a committee of five internationally relatively unknown Norwegians may decide about who has done the most for peace."

After today, we can expect to hear that question asked with increasing regularity.

More CBSNews.com Coverage of the Nobel Peace Prize:

President Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Obama: Nobel Prize a "Call To Action"
Analysis: Nobel Prize Doesn't Help Obama
Mark Phillips: The Audacity of the Nobel Committee
Mark Knoller: Nobel Peace Prize an Unprecedented Honor for Obama
List of Past U.S. Winners
World Reaction to the Award
Read Excerpts from the Nobel Citation
Common Nobel Prize myths debunked
What's Your Opinion?
Watch video of Nobel award ceremony from AP Television
Watch a shocked Bob Schieffer's analysis
Watch Mark Phillips' report on the Prize

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by johnhdavis October 11, 2009 9:22 PM EDT: I don't get what all the wonder is about. Perhaps I am wrong in that the peace prize is supposed to be about PEACE. The fact is that NO one has ever brought about peace in the world or a lasting peace any where in it. Certainly no US president has in modern times. President Obama has said he will TRY and he at least continues to make the effort. He promised HOPE. His detractors simply want to maintain the status quo, which is to keep us all segregated from one another and at each others throats. That way there is no comparing of notes to identify who are the real enemies of peace.; Reply to this comment


by pensacola8-2009 October 9, 2009 6:16 PM EDT: The recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize rarely finds it helping them with their work or causes. It does validate the recipient as an individual of high character, discipline, and quality.

President Obama didn't need a Nobel Peace Prize to know if he a personally effective or valuable person to the world. His Grandmother's love and dedication to his education and rearing did that. His marriage to Michelle affirms he is well-rounded enough to have committed relationships with others.

The critics of Obama will never become recipients of a Nobel Peace prize, or have any value for one. The supporters of Obama will always hold the value for such an award in high regard and follow the ideals and values of the Democratic Party towards their eventual realization.; Reply to this comment


by WhydonChablohmi October 9, 2009 5:47 PM EDT: Well. Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize. No question about it, his achievements are every bit as significant as those of Al Gore, Jimmy Carter and Yasser Arafat.

Those Norwegians have the most subtle, but yet wicked sense of humor. This is satire at its finest; they're taking the p!$$ BIG TIME.; Reply to this comment

by taxchurches October 9, 2009 5:18 PM EDT

Actually, this just upsets right-wingers because it is another reminder that neither they, nor America, run the world or tells people what to think.

"Now those Europeans have awarded Mr. Obama, who has been in office less than one year, a prize that seems, at the very least, premature."

But the award WASN'T premature, at all, if you read what it was given for. Obama has changed one very important American policy already: act like a petulant child and don't talk to anyone who disagrees with you about anything, ever, nanny-nanny-boo-boo! While this policy was instituted by Reagan and revived by Bush, Obama is smart enough to realize that dialogue NEVER hurts, and sometimes HELPS.

"...and that aligns him with European elites instead of average Americans..."

I micturate on "average Americans" from a considerable height. Average Americans have kept us bombing when we should have been seeking peace, teaching Creation when we know it is a lie, teaching abstinence only when we know it doesn't work, denying human rights because of sexual orientation, playing XBox when they should be reading a book, divorcing at a rate of 50%, with one of the worst educational systems in the industrialized world, the highest infant mortality rate of any wealthy nation, and have kept us from exploring space in any meaningful way for the last 40 years.

And any time any American criticizes America for anything, he automatically "hates America," or "blames America first," is a "socialist," or "in bed with the terrorists." Or, the worst thing imaginable: an "elitist." Oh no, not that.

Nothing has ever been achieved by anyone but the elite. Those of you who know anything at all about American history know that the Founders of America were as elite as they come. The "average American" is here to check tire pressure and serve burgers. The elite accomplish things.

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by kdacus October 25, 2009 8:34 PM EDT: You are correct; I don't want truth, I don't want the poor feed. I just want to tell people what to do. Your misguided, insincere, misinformed and mean statement does nothing to further the discussion. "If someone disagrees with you, call them 'racist' or accuse them of not caring" is no longer working.


by jab232 October 9, 2009 4:47 PM EDT: If the Nobel Peace Prize doesn't help President Obama, why does the GOP have its nose out of joint?; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey October 9, 2009 4:45 PM EDT: [It is also a boon to the president's critics who have a new talking point in their efforts to derail Mr. Obama's ambitious domestic agenda. ]

this says it all ... as in they need a new talking point ... since they have nothing else to offer as an argument for their failed agenda ... and what's left over that's currently passing for an agenda is simply and solely to derail.

is there an award for that?; Reply to this comment

by garybonner October 9, 2009 4:40 PM EDT

Friends,

Let's be mindful of the mission and purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year to the person who has had the most profoundly positive impact on world peace.

Whether you like Obama or not, you can't deny that a U.S. President (who is the leader of the richest and most powerful nation in the history of the earth) who has thrown off the big stick of unilatteral military and economic assertiveness; who has reached out to 1.52 billion Muslims in a way that does not smack of paternalism and who approaches other world leaders as peers and not subjects; who is winding down the unjust war in Iraq and has publicly repented on behalf of our nation for lying about our motives for war in Iraq; who does not view the lives of U.S. soldiers as mere "military assets" and is not willing to sacrifice these brave young people for anything less than our most compelling interests, does indeed, merely by changing our tone and our approach to world affairs has thereby saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of people who otherwise would fall prey to our bombs or be killed in the crossfire between our adversaries' attempts to shoot at us; thus wielding "the most profoundly positive affect on world peace." Obama's approach international citizenship saves lives, hundreds of thousands of them.

Let us now, in the words of scripture, "deal justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God."

Your thoughts?

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by BuddyBeanbags October 9, 2009 5:05 PM EDT: amen, brother

as a great prophet once said, walk softly and carry a big stick


by kdacus October 25, 2009 8:35 PM EDT: "thrown off the big stick of unilatteral military and economic assertiveness"
You aren't paying attention because you are an ideologist.


by tnjhobson October 9, 2009 4:06 PM EDT: Can't anyone be happy for a moment. With all that we have wrong in our world can't we just say good, I am happy for you.
No we have got to find some way of putting the only president we had in 8 years to do anything to help our nation, the last one was Clinton. Go figure he was ridiculed to for everything but remember back what life was like. Better than it was when Bush left office. FOR GOD SAKE LET HIM DO HIS JOB. SWEEP YOUR OWN BACK DOOR FIRST BEFORE YOU MIND SWEEPING HIS. ***** GREAT JOB AND CONGRATS PRESIDENT BARAK HUSSEIN OBAMA; Reply to this comment


by bajajohn1 October 9, 2009 4:02 PM EDT: Instead of offering congratulations, envy, jealousy, hatred, bigotry at this American's President's efforts to broaden the scope of diplomacy worldwide is the Republican response. Talk and negotiations instead of bullets and bombs is what he has tried to offer the world and Republicans react as described. Yet, the Republican Party is doomed to continued failure for not even offering a semblance of intelligent, thoughtful, well-balanced diplomacy. Their former failure of a President, George Bush, did not have a clue as to the meaning of the word 'diplomacy,' much less being able to enunciate it.; Reply to this comment


by hakori October 9, 2009 1:55 PM EDT: For crikey's sake!!! "Conservatives" cheer when America looses the bid for the Olympics, now they whine that Obama won the Nobel peace prize! Obama just can't win with "conservatives" because they don't want him to. Nothing he does will be good enough. They just can't accept the fact that they're out of power, so they threaten civil war and/or revolution. So much for the left being the radicals...; Reply to this comment

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