He should have declined

By Michael Singh

In our polarized political world, U.S. presidents seem to inspire fervent devotion or passionate dislike, with little space in between. The initial reactions to President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize fit into this pattern.

To his backers, the award is a surprise, but a welcome one, confirming his political philosophy. To his detractors, the award is an embarrassment for which no justification can be made. For the president himself, the reward is a problem. Already criticized for overexposure and a dearth of tangible achievements, he may see the Nobel mostly as a headache that puts him in a corner: Decline and risk confirming critics' charges that you are undeserving, or accept and risk confirming their accusations of arrogance.

On balance, the right thing would have been to decline the Nobel. Supporters would applaud the humility, and critics would largely be disarmed. Further, the president in pointing to more deserving, less well-known candidates, could do significant good.

In the charged, bubble atmosphere that prevails in modern White House staffs, however, such modest actions are uncommon. Presidential aides and communicators these days are given to grandiloquence and self-congratulation, a crass trend whose momentum seems unfortunately unstoppable.

It isn't fair to criticize the president for winning this award, as it is a stretch to think that he or his staff sought to sway the vote. Those who deserve criticism are the Norwegian Nobel Committee. Their actions were crassly political, contributing to political polarization rather than diffusing it. They did President Obama no favors by prematurely awarding him this distinction. At its best, the Peace Prize shines a spotlight on the hard-won achievements of courageous peacemakers; at its worst, it is a political truncheon.

In accepting the Nobel, President Obama should explicitly reject any base political interpretation of it, regardless of the committee's purpose. Instead, he should do so on behalf of America and Americans, who have sacrificed much over the decades to further peace and prosperity in the world.