Obama's vulnerability

Or: Manipulating the manipulator.

Sure, the Nobel Peace Prize committee's choice is farcical. But it has tragic potential.

David Brooks and Ruth Marcus agree that it's a joke. From Newsbusters (who have video of the complete Jim Lehrer segment):

"Well, my first reaction is he should have won all the prizes because he has given speeches about peace, but also he's give economic speeches. He wrote a book - that's literature. He has biological elements within his body. He could win that prize. He could have swept the whole prizes," Brooks said tongue-in-cheek before delivering the knock-out blow. "Now - it's sort of a joke."

Host Jim Lehrer was stunned by Brooks' response. "A joke?" Lehrer replied.

[. . .]

Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus, who is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination, also said it was bad for Obama.

"I was stunned and amazed," she said. "And I have to say that I kind of agree with President Obama when he said, ‘To be honest I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformational figures.' Neither do I. I don't understand this prize. And I actually, I think it reflects poorly on the Nobel Committee more than it does on President Obama who I presume did not nominate himself two weeks after he became president."

"And I don't think it's necessarily particularly good news for President Obama because it raises all those questions about the celebrity. Remember John McCain's ad - where is the substance, what's he actually done? He was being lampooned on ‘Saturday Night Live' just a few weeks ago for not having done anything. And now he gets this prize, for what? And you know, what is he going to top it with next year. What's next?"

Aligning herself even further with terrorists, Marcus adds, "This is ridiculous -- embarrassing, even."

The unmerited prize certainly highlights Obama's lack of accomplishment and the manufactured star-power that attracted support from silly celebrity worshippers and helped get him elected. But that's a side issue.

What's far worse than the Nobel committee further cheapening its award is its attempt to influence US foreign policy by giving the prize to our egocentric president.

William Jacobson, Rush Limbaugh, David Frum, and former senator Bob Kerry all express concern that this is indeed the aim of the committee, and that influence is a real possibility. Mr. Frum writes:

That Nobel was not a gesture of Obama-worship by left-leaning Norwegians. It was the very opposite: It was a pre-emptive strike against Obama, an attempt to neutralize him. How can a Peace Nobelist strike Iranian nuclear plants? Or wage a protracted war in Afghanistan? Or tell the Palestinians, “Sorry, that’s the best offer, take it or leave it”? The hope of course is that he cannot.

We’ve heard a lot over the past few years about radicals trying to achieve their aims through “lawfare.” Here’s a new concept in asymmetric conflict: “prizefare.” The Nobel Committee was not rewarding Obama. It was attempting to geld him.

They can only geld him if he submits to the knife. The message of the award is that the committee believes there's a good chance that he will.

A less ego-bound leader might question the motives behind the prize beyond the obvious "I'm so awesome" and be concerned about the committee's expectations. A different kind of leader might be offended by the inherent implication that he can be influenced.

Obama has many weaknesses, naivete and inexperience prominent among them. But of all his flaws, his ego is his real Achilles heel; it precludes self-correction and allows his other weaknesses to thrive. The international community is on to his narcissism (see Sarkozy), sees it as a vulnerability, and is using it as a means to manipulate him. Stay tuned to see how this tragedy unfolds. The omens aren't good.

(And brace yourselves, dear readers, for the Nobel acceptance speech. The preening and abundance of self-references will be unbearable.)

*Update: I'm not the only one struck by the tragicomic, satire-made-real nature of the award:
William Jacobson: Farce Repeats Itself as History
Mark Steyn: No laughing matter
Ed Driscoll: A satire with consequences
Ann Althouse: Living out a satire

Related:
Nobel Committee feeds Obama ego with Peace Prize
Nobel committee doesn't respect Obama

Linked at Michelle Malkin (buzzworthy)

All Obama Nobel posts here.

Most recent posts here.