Nobel Peace Prize will handicap US diplomatic efforts

The blogosphere and pundits will be in full force today discussing the accomplishments or lack thereof of President Obama. The left will spin the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize award as a reflection of the United States new found adoration brought on by President Obama. Meanwhile, his detractors will inevitably refer to lack of international diplomatic success of the administration, the increased belligerence of nations such as Iran, North Korea and Venezuela, the strained US-Israeli relationship, the Chicago Olympics debacle and criticism by the French president.

Inevitably, the historical significance of the prize will be discussed. There will be references to the award being the first time a sitting US president has received the prize. Likewise, the references to past award winner such as Arafat, Vietnamese diplomat Lo Duc and Gorbachev will be invoked. You will hear the discussion about past nominees such as Neville Chamberlain, Hitler, Stalin and others. In the end we will be barraged with discussions centering upon the past, with little discussion as to the unintended effect of receiving the award.

The world is ruled by largely egotistical, alpha males who do not react well to criticism and react even more negatively to arrogance or condescension by other leaders. No example typifies this better than how global leadership reacted to President Wilson in 1919. The President arrived in Europe, touring the continent to be greeted by record-breaking crowds of adoring fans. Publicly, European leaders positioned themselves to the side of Wilson, bowing before his public greatness and showering him with praise. However, privately they despised the arrogance of the President and despised the popularity of Wilson even more. At Versailles, they utilized his naivety and arrogance against him, shredding the Presidents peace plan until all that remained was the creation of the League of Nations and the most lopsided and damaging peace treaty in history. President Wilson never recovered from the humiliation of Versailles.

As we pointed out throughout the campaign and as recently as last month, President Obama is the first President in the past century to display a level of hubris, condescension and idealism that rivals that of President Wilson. On the world stage, belligerent countries have consistently challenged the resolve of the US over the past 9 months only to be met with a tepid response by Washington. Following the G20 summit, European leaders expressed private discontent and offered criticism of the naivete of President Obama's world views and the President's condemnation of another secret Iranian nuclear facility was offset by the disclosure that the President learned of the facility prior to his inauguration.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize will inevitably handicap U.S. diplomatic efforts as the self-serving egotism of other global leaders causes them to pursue policies aimed at embarrassing the President and enforcing their sense of power. Compounding U.S. diplomatic challenges is the reality that President Obama has displayed typical Beta-male behavior in dealing with foreign leaders as The American Thinker pointed out. The end result will be that even the leaders or closest allies will inadvertently work to improve their own sense of self-worth and superiority when dealing with an administration whose own arrogance will only grow as world peace is added to a list of accomplishments that have yet to occur.

Much of the world is demonstrating dismay this morning as they learn that President Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. From the bewilderment of the crowd at the announcement to dropped jaws in Afghanistan and Iraq, the announcement was a shock and a body-shot to the egos of other world leaders. Ultimately, the Noble Peace Prize committee has damaged already strained U.S. diplomatic efforts.