IRVING, Texas (ABP) — The head of the Southern Baptist Convention's public-policy arm says awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama was a political move intended to influence the United States' foreign policy.
"Something more than the power of charisma induced the Norwegians to honor Mr. Obama, so this is a teachable moment," Richard Land, president of the SBC Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said Oct. 10 on his weekly radio program. "I think the Nobel Prize committee is trying to lobby this president to pull him in an even more left-wing direction by giving him the Nobel Peace Prize."
The award, announced Oct. 9 in Oslo, recognizes "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The selection committee said it "attached special importance" to Obama's vision for a world without nuclear weapons.
Richard Land says it is not unusual for the Nobel committee to play politics
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The committee said Obama's presidency "created a new climate in international politics" emphasizing multilateral diplomacy and dialogue and negotiations to resolve international conflicts.
Land said the award puts pressure on Obama to "take an even more internationalist" U.S. foreign policy and makes it more difficult for him to continue the war and increase the number of troops in Afghanistan.
"The pressure is not all that subtle," Land said. "If you get the Nobel Peace Prize do you turn around and send 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan? I believe that we should listen to the general in charge, who says he needs 40,000 more troops to do the job. If you're going to put men in harm's way, you ought to listen to the professionals."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on the NBC "Today" show that Obama's Nobel Peace Prize won't influence "some of these tough decisions" the president will have to make on the war in Afghanistan.
Former President Jimmy Carter, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, called Obama's selection "a bold statement of international support for his vision and commitment to peace and harmony in international relations."
"It shows the hope his administration represents not only to our nation but to people around the world," Carter said.
Former Vice President Al Gore, a 2007 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, called Obama's selection "thrilling."
"It's an honor for him first and foremost, of course, but it's an honor for our country," Gore said in remarks at the Society of Environmental Journalists conference in Madison, Wis. "I think it's extremely well deserved."
Land, a critic of both Carter and Gore, said the Nobel committee, appointed by Norway's parliament, wants to move American diplomacy on issues like nuclear disarmament and climate change away from American "exceptionalism." That is the idea that the United States has a unique role to play in the world spreading ideals like freedom and individual rights.
"The newest Nobel laureate, President Barack Obama, in nine months in office has found time to meet with Hugo Chavez, the thug that runs Venezuela; Daniel Ortega, the thug that runs Nicaragua; and Vladimir Putin, the thug that effectively runs Russia," Land said. "But he hasn't found time to meet with the Dalai Lama, a peaceful religious leader who has long been a friend to the U.S. and an advocate of human rights for China's six million Tibetans."
The White House says the Dalai Lama and Obama will not meet until after Obama visits Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing in November. The Obama administration needs China's support for policy goals and wants to use the visit to establish friendly ties.
"In other words, the president doesn't want to offend the Chinese by meeting with the Dalai Lama before his visit to Beijing," Land said. "This is the stature of a Nobel Peace Prize winner? I believe it is shameful and a disgrace."
Land said it is not unusual for the Nobel committee to play politics. "I mean they've done this before, and they've done it particularly in recent years." He termed decisions to give the award to Carter, Gore and Obama "a trifecta of Nobel anti-George Bush peace prizes."
"George Bush may have retired from public life, but the Europeans want the Yanks to know they never want to see his likes again," Land said.
In fact, Land said he wondered how Bill Clinton felt about being the only Democratic president in the last 40 years not to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
"His vice president got it." Land said. "His Democratic predecessor, Jimmy Carter, got it. His Democratic successor got it, but Bill Clinton hasn't been awarded it. I suspect that probably former President Clinton was not in the best of moods with this surprise announcement that took place."
Christian leaders gathered at a National Association of Evangelicals leadership forum congratulated the president.
Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, a Baptist minster and founding director of the Two Futures Project, said Obama's selection "highlights the importance" of setting a goal for a world without nuclear weapons.
"To prevent nuclear terrorism, we must make progress toward the complete abolition of nuclear weapons," he said. "A new generation needs to deal once and for all with the legacy of the Cold War."
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.