Obama (and Everyone Else) 'Surprised' by Nobel Prize

UNITED NATIONS — Friday's announcement that US President Barack Obama had been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize barely nine months into his presidency drew an outpouring of formal congratulations from around the world, amid skepticism and speculation over whether the prize would ultimately prove an asset or liability.

In a statement from Oslo, the committee explained its unexpected decision as recognition of Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples", in particular his outreach to the Arab world and efforts to end nuclear proliferation – clearly a tacit rebuke to the unilateral approach of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

President Barack Obama, daughter Sasha Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, and daughter Malia Obama walk to the White House as they return from a morning service at St. John's Episcopal Church on October 11. (Photo: Getty Images)

But with few concrete accomplishments on either score to boast of—and as Obama considers further escalation of the Afghanistan war, with Arab-Israeli peace efforts floundering—many interpreted the decision as a purely political calculation.

"It is as if the prize committee had been persuaded to give the award on the future delivery of promises," noted Peter Beaumont, writing in the London's Guardian.

Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu echoed that sentiment, but in gentler terms: "It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope," he said.

In Washington, Obama himself made a brief appearance in the White House Rose Garden before noon, saying he was "both surprised and deeply humbled" by the Nobel Committee's decision.

"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations," he said.

Obama later announced that he would give the US$ 1.4 million in prize money to an as-yet-unnamed charity.

At UN headquarters in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also credited Obama's achievement to causes the US president is espousing, which are clearly on the UN agenda.

"President Obama embodies the new spirit of dialogue and engagement on the world's biggest problems: climate change, nuclear disarmament, and a wide range of peace and security challenges," Ban told reporters Friday.

He said that Obama's commitment to work through the United Nations - including a first by a US president to chair a Security Council meeting on nuclear disarmament last month—"gives the world's people fresh hope and fresh prospects."

William D. Hartung, director of the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, thinks that Obama's initiative for a "world without nuclear weapons" was a major contributory factor in the Nobel Peace Prize.

"My first reaction was 'how can a guy who's only been in office for nine months win the Nobel Peace Prize?'" Hartung told IPS.

"But once I woke up and thought about it for a few minutes, I realized that the honor being bestowed on President Obama is well-deserved for one very good reason: his commitment to work for a world without nuclear weapons," he said.

Reaction from the Arab world was also largely positive. Speaking from Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Esmet Abdel Meguid called the award "a positive move that would lead to more understanding and relations between the United States and other countries".

While most analysts in Washington said the prize would likely boost—if only modestly—Obama's foreign policy priorities, they were divided on its impact on his domestic political standing.

"It can't hurt," wrote Matthew Cooper, a political analyst for The Atlantic Magazine.

Cooper noted that it puts the "humiliating experience of lobbying for Chicago for the 2016 Olympics... in perspective", and should also give him more "political space to sell whatever he comes up with on Afghanistan"—a critical war-and-peace issue that the White House has been consumed with for the past two weeks.

Other analysts predicted that it could help the administration gain more support from its wavering NATO allies in Afghanistan and build support for stalled efforts to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks going.