Like many people I’ve been fascinated with the news that President Obama has won the Nobel Prize. The story isn’t really dying down at all and it’s dominated chat in the blogosphere. What strikes me most about the coverage of this story is how often commentators link the award committee’s reasoning to notions about the proper U.S. role in the world. Of course, the award committee specifically noted Obama’s foreign policy as one reason for the award, and other commentators have explicitly linked it to the U.S. role, describing it as an almost aspirational affirmation of an idealized view of the U.S. role in the world. Take, for example, this commentary from Fareed Zakaria:
I think it’s more an award to America for rejoining the world than recognition of President Obama per se. People here underestimate how relieved the world is to have a more engaged, less bullying America. […] He ended many “war on terror” practices that made people (both inside and outside the country) see America as betraying its ideals; he reached out to the Muslim world in a way that hasn’t been done before; he made proposals to reduce the world’s nuclear arsenals; he re-engaged on the Israeli-Palestinian issue; he started winding down the Iraq war. All this collectively adds up to a changed American profile in the world — as is evident in President Obama being awarded the prize today.
Has world perception of the U.S. really changed that much? Public opinion poll results noted in this report indicate that it has:
In Europe and much of the world, Obama is praised for bringing the U.S. closer to mainstream global thinking on such issues as climate change and multilateralism. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world.
If the award committee has indeed given Obama this honor in recognition of reviving and/or restoring what they see as the proper U.S. role in the world it suggests that Obama now has more good-will and political capital to spend on the international stage than any recent president. Expectations are high to see what he will do with it.
