E.J. Dionne hits the nail on the head when he writes that the Nobel Peace prize is a liability for Obama among those who see the whole deal as a cabal of international, "latte-sipping" elitists rewarding one of their own.
His opponents are describing the award as premature. The deeper problem is that the Nobel will underscore the extent to which Obama is a cosmopolitan figure, much loved in European capitals because he is the change they have been looking for.
Most Americans will probably be happy to have a leader who wins acclaim around the globe. But, paradoxically, a decision made in Oslo to honor Obama's peaceable intentions may make it more difficult for him to reconcile a body politic roiled by years of cultural warfare, partisan animosity and ideological extremism.
The core of opposition lies with middle-class white men in America who've lost their jobs, their positions, their sense of self. I think there's a good case for that though I'd argue that it extends beyond the middle class in both directions. White men no longer "own" America. If that seems like an exaggeration to you, you may be under thirty-five. There was a time....
Thing is, Dionne has a solution. Let's hope the White House is listening because what Dionne has to say is exactly right. A similar situation arose in Australia where it was found that "the key to battling the politics of rage is to acknowledge that it is driven by 'real problems' and not simply raw feelings."
No doubt some who despise Obama will see the judges in Norway as part of that latte-sipping crowd and will hold their esteem for the president against him. He can't do much about this. What he can do -- and perhaps then deserve the domestic equivalent of a peace prize -- is reach out to the angry white men with policies that address their grievances, and do so with an understanding that what matters to them is not status but simply a chance to make a decent living again.
A good plan. A better plan than just kicking Fox News in the butt, even though Fox News deserves all that and more.
