IN HIS Nobel lecture yesterday, President Barack Obama sought to justify his escalation of the war in Afghanistan while at the same time defining what John F Kennedy called “a more practical, more attainable peace”.
The right-wing television channel Fox News called the effect a "Jekyll and Hyde Nobel speech", but Joe Klein of Timemagazine gushed: "No matter your politics, Barack Obama did our nation proud today."
Mr Obama was careful not to provide ammunition to critics in the US, who did not react. "I don't think he provided even a five-second passage of the speech that could be isolated by US opponents to show that he was 'apologising' for America," said Jim Fallows of The Atlanticmagazine.
“I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people,” Mr Obama said. The following sentence – “For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world.” – was compared by several commentators to the rhetoric of George W Bush.
Mr Obama and first lady Michelle were to stay only 26 hours in the Norwegian capital. The Nobel prize festivities usually last three days.
At the office of Norway’s prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, before the prize-giving ceremony, Mr Obama apologised for the short stay, saying: “I still have a lot of work to do back in Washington DC before the year is done.”
As he left the Nobel Institute, where he signed the prizewinners’ book, Mr Obama told reporters: “Michelle and I were commenting on the fact that when Dr (Martin Luther) King won his prize, it had a galvanising effect around the world, but also lifted his stature in the US in a way that allowed him to be more effective.”
Throughout the day, Mr Obama seemed acutely aware of his stature in the US, where his job approval rating now stands at 50 per cent.
At Mr Stoltenberg’s office, Mr Obama said the goal of his initiatives “is not to win a popularity contest or to get an award – even one as esteemed as the Nobel Peace Prize. The goal has been to advance America’s interests, to strengthen our economy at home, and to make ourselves a continuing force for good in the world ...”
Mr Obama began his lecture with a foreign policy equivalent of his “Yes We Can” campaign slogan: “For all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.”
After a sometimes pedantic peroration on the history of war, Mr Obama called on all nations to adhere to international standards.
His speech was interrupted by applause only once, when he noted that he had banned the use of torture, would close Guantanamo prison and abide by the Geneva Conventions because, “We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.”
Speech extracts
“WE ARE at war, and I am responsible for the deployment of thousands of young Americans to battle in a distant land. Some will kill, and some will be killed. And so I come here with an acute sense of the costs of armed conflict – filled with difficult questions about the relationship between war and peace, and our effort to replace one with the other.”
“WE MUST begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations – acting individually or in concert – will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified.”
“MAKE NO mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaeda’s leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism – it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.”
“EVEN AS we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war. That is what makes us different from those whom we fight. That is a source of our strength. That is why I prohibited torture. That is why I ordered the prison at Guantánamo Bay closed. And that is why I have reaffirmed America’s commitment to abide by the Geneva Conventions. We lose ourselves when we compromise the very ideals that we fight to defend.”
“WE CAN acknowledge that oppression will always be with us, and still strive for justice. We can admit the intractability of depravation, and still strive for dignity. We can understand that there will be war, and still strive for peace. We can do that – for that is the story of human progress; that is the hope of all the world; and at this moment of challenge, that must be our work here on Earth.”