Nobel Peace Prize

Note: Below, I offer a suggestion that would actually help President Obama against his critics. And yet, his critics should support it because it is the right thing to do.

Virtually everybody - Right, Left and Media - agrees that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama is somewhere between premature and ridiculous. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee has beclowned itself again. Given that context, it will be very difficult for Obama to accept the prize without appearing...well, ridiculous.  He might turn down the prize or even hand it over to one of the people who genuinely accomplished things. Both would be noble gestures by President Obama to correct an error he did not create.

However, the exceptionally smart James Pethokoukis offered a better idea...

Obama should accept [Nobel Peace Prize] on behalf of Reagan (defeating USSR), Bush I (freeing Kuwait), Clinton (free trade) and Bush II (liberating 50m)

This would be a masterful move by President Obama. Imagine this speech being given directly to the Nobel Peace Prize committee and the entire world:

I thank you and accept the honor you have bestowed. However, I do not accept the Nobel Peace Prize on my own behalf.  I accept it on behalf of The United States of America, the greatest force for good the world has ever known.

• I accept it on behalf of President Ronald Reagan, who led the final victory over the evil empire of Soviet communism.  America was right and the world is a better, more peaceful place because Ronald Reagan had the courage to win that fight.

• I accept it on behalf of President George H.W. Bush, who led the liberation of Kuwait. America was right and the world is a better, more peaceful place because George H.W. Bush had the courage to win that fight.

• I accept it on behalf of President Bill Clinton, who fought for, and won, more free trade around the world. America was right and the world is a better, more peaceful place because Bill Clinton had the courage to win that fight.

• And yes, even though I opposed the war in Iraq, I accept this Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of President George W. Bush, who fought for the liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether or not the Iraq war was the appropriate policy, America is right to support freedom and democracy, and the world is a better, more peaceful place because George W. Bush had the courage to remove the tyrants in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I do not accept this Nobel Peace Prize on my own behalf.  I accept it on behalf of America, that Shining City upon a Hill that has made this world a better place for us all.

Nothing would disarm his critics and rally the American public to President Obama faster than him giving this speech to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee. 

UPDATE: President Obama's remarks this morning are a step in the right direction.  I hope he will go further and tell the world exactly what that leadership has been over recent decades.

"Let me be clear," Obama said. "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."