In a brief familial reference, Obama said in his first public comment on the award that when his daughters came into his room on Friday morning they talked about his winning the Nobel Prize and reminded him that it was the family dog Bo’s birthday. They pointed out, too -- probably the big deal, really – that a “three-day weekend was coming up,” Monday, October 12 being Columbus Day, a holiday.

Obama was low-keyed in his preliminary response. No doubt his rhetoric will soar at the formal ceremony on December 10 in Oslo. He will donate the $1.4 million “purse” to charity. (On December 10, 1964 Martin Luther King Jr. became the youngest honoree to receive the award.)

Eighty-nine laureates received the award between 1901 and 2008 -- 96 were individuals and 23 were organizations. The award places Obama in a galaxy of laureates including Aung San Sui Kyi, Willy Brandt, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Wangarai Maathai, Mother Teresa, Albert Schweitzer, Desmond Tutu, and Muhammad Yunus, causing what appeared to be a combination of misery, anger, envy, and angst among his domestic critics.

REACTIONS DIFFER

Comments by Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, were typical of international reaction. Saying that “Obama has already provided outstanding leadership in the effort to prevent nuclear proliferation,” he added: Obama “sees the world as one human family, regardless of religion, race or ethnicity.”

In a moving personal letter, President Sakorzy of France said the award “sets the seal on Americas return to the heart of all the worlds peoples”.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Anan commented: “In an increasingly challenging and volatile world, President Obama has given a sense of hope and optimism to millions around the world.”

At home, responses were good, bad, or ugly. Rightwing radio talkers ranged from being vacuous to virulent. Said one of them: “There are only two reasons for the award -- his name and his colour.” Ironically, their condemnation of the award was shared by the Taliban who suggested that Obama should be awarded a Nobel Prize for Violence.

Divided views among politicians demonstrated the state of polarization here.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said: “It is unfortunate that the presidents star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights.

Democratic National Committee president, Tim Kaine, governor of the state of Virginia, retorted: The Nobel Committees decision to award this years Peace Prize to President Obama is an affirmation of the fact that the United States has returned to its long-standing role as a world leader.

Two American Nobel laureates, as reported by the Associated Press, welcomed the award:

Said Jimmy Carter: “It is a bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment to peace and harmony in international relations. It shows the hope his administration represents not only to our nation but to people around the world.

And Vice President Al Gore explained: “I think its extremely well deserved. ... I think it will take some time before people put together all the different moves that linked his speech at the UN on the abolishing of nuclear weapons, his shift on the missile defense program in Eastern Europe and the movement of Russia to joining the international consensus that confronted Iran to abide by the nonproliferation treaty.

Nevertheless, the announcement was considered something of a stunner because it was made before Obama could point to a single outstanding act or event as having had a direct impact on international peace and security.

Confronted with this view, committee chair Thorbjorn Jagland, a former Prime Minister of Norway, reminded reporters that Willy Brandt of Germany received the award for inaugurating a process of political accommodation (Ostpolitik) which ended with the demolition of the Berlin Wall.

Mikhail Gorbachev, Jagland said, received the award for launching “perestroika” and “glasnost,” which eventually changed the map of Europe. “One can say that Barack Obama is trying to change the world just as these two personalities changed Europe.”

FREE OF NUKES

The Nobel Committee’s official announcement of the award said that the committee “attached special importance to Obamas vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.”

Only a few weeks ago, Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Buddhist association, Soka Gokkai International (SGI), said in an interview to IDN-InDepthNews: “a world free of nuclear weapons is no longer a utopia. There is more than one reason to believe that it is a concrete possibility.”

Clearly, the Nobel Committee shares this assessment, believes that the human family should seek freedom from the threat of nuclear annihilation, and is convinced that because Obama can lead this quest, he deserves continuing and full support.

Obama made clear his commitment to nuclear disarmament as the foundation of global peace and security when he said in Prague on April 5:

“Just as we stood for freedom in the 20th century, we must stand together for the right of people everywhere to live free from fear in the 21st century. ….So today, I state clearly and with conviction Americas commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons. Im not naive. This goal will not be reached quickly -- perhaps not in my lifetime. It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, ‘Yes, we can.’”

He described several markers that would need to be passed as the world moved towards nuclear disarmament. These would include:

- Reducing the role of nuclear weapons in the national security strategy of the U.S. while others do the same.
- Negotiating a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with the Russians.
- Ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The Obama Administration will “immediately and aggressively” pursue US ratification of the
  CTBT.
- Negotiating a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in nuclear weapons.
- Strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a basis for cooperation.
- Building a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so that every nation that renounces nuclear weapons, especially developing countries embarking on peaceful programs, can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation.

COMMON CAUSE

Some moves in the direction of the markers have already been made. Obama has met Russia’s President Medvedev for discussions on resuming START negotiations. Technical discussions will follow the guidelines they discussed.

As for the CTBT, Obama has designated Vice President Biden as the “point person” for persuading Congress to support ratification. Secretary of State Clinton attended the “Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force of the CTBT” in New York (September 24-25). This was the first U.S. participation in 10 years.

Also in September, Obama presided over a Security Council Summit which was attended by 14 heads of state or government. Although President Gaddafi was in town, Libya, the fifteenth member, was represented by a diplomat.

The summit unanimously agreed to work toward a world without nuclear weapons, endorsing a broad framework of actions to reduce global nuclear dangers. The session was the fifth summit meeting of the Council in its 63 years of existence and marked the first time that a U.S. president chaired a Security Council Summit.

Next up will be a Global Nuclear Security Summit which Obama plans to convene in March 2010. The Security Summit will seek to develop and agree on collective measures that will “secure vulnerable materials, combat nuclear smuggling and deter, detect, and disrupt attempts at nuclear terrorism.” This will be followed in May by the periodic NPT Review Conference.

Well, if one swallow does not make a summer, one Nobel Peace Prize, however prestigious, will not end the world’s disorders, or resolve the problems that President George Bush and Vice President Cheney left behind them.

Much as his vision for the U.S. and the world has been recognized and reaffirmed by the Nobel Peace Committee, Obama confronts monumental challenges. That is why, he explained in a letter to supporters shortly after learning of the Nobel Peace Prize, he seeks common action in support of a common cause:

“This award -- and the call to action that comes with it -- does not belong simply to me or my administration; it belongs to all people around the world who have fought for justice and for peace. And most of all, it belongs to you, the men and women of America, who have dared to hope and have worked so hard to make our world a little better.”

Now, Consider This: Anywhere else in the world a young president who received a Nobel Prize so early into his presidency would have been festooned with public accolades. Instead, a section of the radio talkocracy has bombarded him with crude and vicious insults. Can anybody identify the 1000 pound gorilla, seated quietly in the corner of the radio studio, wearing a smirk of approval? 

(This article appears in October issue of GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES, a monthly magazine for international cooperation, produced by Global Cooperation Council in partnership with IPS-Inter Press Service Europa and published by Globalom Media.)
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The writer has served as Sri Lanka's ambassador to Canada, Cuba, Mexico, and the USA. He was Chairman of the Commonwealth's Select Committee on the media and development.