Surprise in Oslo

Defeated just a few days ago in Copenhagen, where he had unsuccessfully presented the nomination of Chicago for the 2016 Olympics, Barack Obama has made a striking and surprising comeback in nearby Oslo. Surprising because in the post-war period, the Nobel Peace Prize was never awarded to a U.S. president in office, much less a president in office for only nine months. Striking because Obama, who showed intent for which he deserves all our appreciation, has not yet been able to achieve anything and in a few days could expose himself to a paradox for a Nobel Peace Prize recipient: sending more troops to fight a bloody war. Afghanistan, where we believe it is right to stay and assert control, is just one example of what was irresistible about Obama to the jury in Oslo. He wants to stabilize the country and has targeted a future withdrawal from Kabul, but today no one can know whether such goals, which would deserve not one but two Nobel Prizes, will be truly achieved.

The president’s other initiatives are also pending verification: his outstretched hand to Iran, the revival of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians, the vision of a world without nuclear weapons, the opening to the Islamic world and the new sensitivity towards environmental issues. These are all initiatives still on the launch pad, and they do not justify the Nobel Peace Prize right now. Unless the prize assigned yesterday to Obama is thought of as a Nobel Peace Prize against George W. Bush. Barack Obama was rewarded for his new spirit of dialogue, noted Angela Merkel. That is, for his decision for a multilateral diplomacy more pragmatic than idealistic, his stance as sworn enemy of the “clash of civilizations” predicted by Samuel Huntington, and his countering of the argument that armies can help to bring democracy where there is not. How could the prize not be an indictment of his predecessor? Obama does not care about achievements and instead celebrates his diversity.

If Obama does not come through, what happened in Oslo will be a mistake. Choosing Obama is based on ideology, just the thing his policy is supposed to be against. The president, the first to be surprised by the news, interpreted what the prize means better than anyone else: a simple incentive to continue; an encouragement, with the hope that the prize would not raise the bar too high and would not contribute to his vulnerability on the domestic front. We appreciate this idea and we want to think of it as an encouragement, too. Nevertheless, we just cannot ignore that what happened yesterday opened a new era: that of the Nobel trust.