Does President Obama Deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?

I don't know what to make of it. Has President Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for what amounts to talk? Not that I'm accusing him of being all hat and no cattle -- far from it. But we're only nine months into a promising presidency that simply hasn't had the time to follow through on its agenda.

On the other hand, there's no doubt that Obama's presence in the Oval Office and his rhetoric have done much in a short time to restore American world leadership and credibility. Whether acting as a president is supposed to act (as Richard Kim of The Nation points out here) is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize is another question.

According to the Washington Post,

Obama and his aides have described the tenets of his foreign policy as emphasizing "mutual interest and mutual respect" and the idea that global diplomacy functions on the principles of "rights and responsibilities" of sovereign nations.

He has delivered four major foreign policy addresses explaining these themes -- his nuclear nonproliferation speech in Prague; his outreach to the Muslim world in Cairo; his offer of U.S. support to the developing world (tempered with a reminder that nations are responsible for their futures) in Accra, Ghana; and his call for global cooperation at the U.N. General Assembly last month.

(More here.)

The left will carp about this and the right will be positively apoplectic (a sure sign that the award is well-deserved). What no one can deny is that in a few short months Obama has reversed eight years of Bush unilateralism, a dangerous course that indeed threatened world peace. Perhaps that combined with the international hopes for his presidency merits what in many ways appears to be a premature recognition. And I'd feel better about it if I knew that President Obama planned to reject requests by the military to increase American military presence in Afghanistan...

The Nation opposes military escalation in Afghanistan:

In the next few weeks, Barack Obama will make a decision that will define his presidency. Will he escalate the war in Afghanistan, sending 40,000 additional US soldiers to reinforce the 68,000 already there to engage in an open-ended, nation-building counterinsurgency mission? Or will he redefine US objectives and ask his advisers to craft an alternative strategy?

For now, however, the administration should be pushed hard to explain the purpose and logic of increasing US involvement. Until it does, any escalation has failed the very test Obama established: "absolute clarity about what the strategy is going to be..."

NOLA Happenings: Tons happening this weekend, with the main event down the road in Lafayette at the Festivals Acadiens et Creoles...If, incredibly, that doesn't run to your taste, check out the food at the Zwolle Tamale Fiesta and Bridge City Gumbo Festival (over 2000 gallons served!)...As cinephiles attend the New Orleans Film Festival, bovine-ophiles can meet their needs at the Louisiana Cattle Festival...Of course, there's no shortage of talent at the Voice of the Wetlands Festival...

I'll always be dreaming my dreams with you...

Nicholas Kristof writes that "if Congress fails to pass comprehensive health reform this year, its members should surrender health insurance in proportion with the American population that is uninsured..."

What's next? According to the great E. J. Dionne, it's jobs, jobs, jobs...

Happy 70th Birthday, Harvey Pekar...

Friday's Choice -- Bob Dylan singing "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" -- goes out to Editilla: