We can all see it coming. It's like being in a car wreck; time slows down, and you can see what's going to happen, but you can't stop it.
The only one who can stop it is Obama. He has to turn down the Nobel Peace Prize.
This isn't even about "does he deserve it". The Prize is fairly meaningless; KISSINGER has one, for God's sake. No, this is about perceptions, like everything in American politics. I don't have Fox but if I did I'm sure the narrative is being chiseled out as we speak: "Elitist Europeans Crown Obama". Sharing a prize with Jimmy Carter? This isn't about reality, this is about optics and shallow media narratives, and on this shameful, idiotic level, this is nothing short of a fucking DISASTER.
So Obama MUST take the only way out. He must turn it down. He must ask that it be awarded to someone else. Again, forget reality. He needs to be PERCEIVED as humble, and he needs to be PERCEIVED as giving the middle finger to all those fancy Europeans with their Audis and their windmills and their public transportation. Otherwise, good luck getting ANYTHING done for the next six months.
I write this not out of a belief that he doesn't deserve the Prize. In fact, he probably does. Being the first black president in a country steeped in slavery and segregation is Mandela territory, and he's made great steps in elevating the international discourse and opposing proliferation. But this isn't about reality. This is about every talking head from now to the Apocalypse questioning this and filleting Obama as narcissistic, European, arugula-eating...whatever.
We can all see it coming. We want to deny it but we know it will happen. That's why he's got to take the only option he has left. I know his political sense is as good as anyone's. So he must sense danger. I pray he has the strength to listen to his better judgment and respectfully decline this award.