Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize

I'm sure you all saw this already, but President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize this morning. Apparently, this came as a shock to the White House, especially since Barack took office only a couple weeks before the eligibility cutoff for this year's award.

The Nobel Committee cited Obama's initiatives to reduce nuclear weapons, to ease tensions with the Muslim world, and to rely more on diplomacy than unilateralism in world affairs. I immediately also thought that they wanted to pressure Barack to stick with his guns--a thought I believed to be uniquely insightful until I saw it all over the Web this morning.

It does make me reflect, though, on America's role in world affairs. The last two sitting presidents to win the award, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, did so because they directly brokered peace talks. Barack has done nothing of the sort and stands poised to intensify the conflict in Afghanistan. But, we are a much more powerful nation than we were in 1906 and 1919. Obviously, those on the Nobel Committee believe that we have a disproportionate impact on world peace because of our overwhelming military strength. Thus, incremental moves towards peace and diplomacy by America have a large impact.

If Barack follows through with his statements in favor of diplomacy and follows through on his efforts to the world's nuclear arsenal he could earn this honor. I really hope he does.

UPDATE: Of course the Repugs are losing their minds over this crying that Obama hasn't done anything to deserve the prize. The Prez answered those criticism well in his remarks.