Mideast Peace Would Justify Obama's Nobel

There's consensus on a deal; the president is the guy to get it done

By Kevin Spak, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 16, 2009 12:13 PM CDT

(Newser) – With his Nobel Prize, President Obama has once again been celebrated and rewarded for who he’s not (George W. Bush) and who he might be. Although Obama’s preferred foreign policy MO—patient diplomacy on many fronts—doesn’t “lend itself to high drama,” that's exactly what he needs to actually earn that prize, writes Joe Klein for Time. And Klein sees an opportunity for bold action: the Middle East.

Things are genuinely improving in the West Bank, where Israelis and Palestinians are working to remove checkpoints and the economy is growing. Though the sides seem incapable of striking a peace deal themselves, there’s broad international consensus on what that deal should look like. If Obama just announced his support for it, both sides would be under tremendous pressure to agree. The moment’s right for a dramatic move, “even from a no-drama president.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Palestinian construction workers work at a new housing development in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in east Jerusalem, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

President Barack Obama speaks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

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If Netanyahu agreed, his coalition would atomize. But he would have the chance to be remembered as the man who finally secured Israel's borders — the sort of achievement that actually might merit a Nobel Prize. - Joe Klein

The foreign policy that Obama favors, patient diplomacy on a multitude of fronts, requires qualities of wisdom, horse-trading and fortitude that we can't yet be sure he possesses. - Joe Klein

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Mideast Peace Would Justify Obama's Nobel