A Poisoned Gift

What do Martin Luther King, Anwar al-Sadate, Yitzhak Rabin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Yasser Arafat and Willy Brandt have in common? The Nobel Peace Prize? Bingo! Indeed, all were global political superstars before being honored by the committee in Oslo. But all, to varying degrees, met unfortunate ends: assassinated, ousted, betrayed or discredited…

Yes, the prize awarded yesterday to Barack Obama brings to mind certain others. Yet there’s a notable difference. For once, the laurels crown neither a life nor a historic act, but the incarnation of hope; one might call it an “encouragement prize.”

From Obama’s point of view, this prize nevertheless looks a lot like a poisoned gift because being designated an “icon of peace” before achieving even the most modest breakthroughs in the realm of international security could quickly become a handicap for the young president. It could be an express ticket to disappointment.

We can already imagine the possible reaction in certain countries if tomorrow the United States renounced its “hand extended” to Iran or North Korea to once again pull out its “big stick.” Obama would immediately be transformed from a dove into a hawk; he’d become a Nobelized symbol of western “duplicity,” a grand traitor to the pacifist cause.

Conscious of the limited-time impact of its prize, the jury therefore didn’t wait for Obama to be subjected to his first disappointments before seating him at the table of leaders who have bent history. What’s left, therefore, is to fulfill the hopes embodied in this choice. For the American head of state, it’s a heavy, extra challenge to bear. The man has the intellectual means, no doubt; the political tools, perhaps; but will he have the time?