Editorial: Nobel Peace Prize rains on Obama's parade

President Barack Obama was unexpectedly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The recognition resulted in mixed reaction from the public, ranging from congratulatory support to harsh criticism.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama earned the award “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Examples listed were his efforts to promote nuclear nonproliferation and encouraging improved international relations, including with the Muslim world.

President Obama took office on Jan. 20 as one of the world’s most popular figures and respected orator. A little more than nine months in office, the president has been praised for his actions dealing with a global recession and millions of job losses in the nation.

This past February, he signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, a $787 billion stimulus package. Developments to reduce the level of troops in Iraq and the planned closing of Guantanamo Bay’s detention camp are also on his agenda.

The committee’s chairman, Thorbjoern Jagland said that “We simply disagree that he has done nothing. He got the prize for what he has done.”

Obama is the first U.S. President to be recognized in the first year of his presidency and fourth to be awarded the Nobel Prize. Woodrow Wilson was the last U.S. president to win such a peace prize, and that was in 1919.

However, the honor has drawn a few critics with the feeling that the award is undeserved and an early vote of confidence.

Time magazine named Obama “Person of the Year” in December 2008 for his accomplishments.

“Some of those efforts are faulted by his critics — those who favor a missile shield for Poland or a troop surge in Afghanistan or a harder line on Iran. But even his fans know that none of the dreams have yet come true, and a prize for even dreaming them can feed the illusion that they have,” Nancy Gibbs said in a Time Magazine report Oct. 9.

Rather than appreciate the gesture, the opposition has levied claims that the president doesn’t deserve the award. Critics that want a bully in the Oval Office are discrediting his best attributes, restoring hope, promoting positive change and a gift for finding words that inspire.

While millions voted for a change in U.S. policies and for a new direction, one away from the negative image being projected, others remain loyal to the old guard.

Obama said he was surprised and deeply humbled by the award and that he viewed the decision less as a recognition of his own accomplishments and more as "a call to action."

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population," the committee said of Obama.

Obama may well now have more support to broaden a positive influence diplomatically, though opponents may hope the recognition leads to failure on domestic and foreign policies.

Multilateral diplomacy "has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts,” the committee said.

As of today, words and wisdom are winning over the international community, more so than the school yard bully approach.