Peace Prize

I have nothing at all against Barack Obama, but there’s something wrong when a President who has been in office for nine months and who recently sent 21 000 new soldiers to Afghanistan wins the Nobel Peace Prize.

Obama is full of promise, and with time, it is quite likely that he will do enough to merit the Peace Prize. But we should give him time. Giving the Peace Prize to someone who has done very little yet only devalues the award.

It’s interesting that the Nobel Committee justified its decision by writing that "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." This is true, of course, but it speaks as much about Obama as about the Office of President of the United States.

Obama actually said as much himself: "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, (…) To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize."

If there’s one thing to be noted from this prize, it is not Obama's so far minor accomplishments, but the world’s complete reliance on the United States for international leadership. If the United States do not take the lead on the world stage, if the President does make rousing speeches that foster hope in all peoples of the world, nobody will. Now, as much as ever, the world needs America.