Snappy newsletters. Simple Facebook sharing. Spirited comments. Sweet features are waiting… GET THEM NOW!

Hot on Facebook

Uproar After NC State Agent 'Fixes' Girl's Lunch Preschooler has to eat chicken nuggets instead of mom's meal »

Hey, America, Your Time Is Now: Bono

Obama's Nobel is world's way of saying it's ready to swoon

By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 18, 2009 1:22 PM CDT

(Newser) – Conservatives sneered at European naivete and even liberals shrugged when Barack Obama won the Nobel, but for U2's Bono, "the virtual Obama is the real Obama, and the man might deserve the hype." The humanitarian rock star lays out the difficult tasks Obama faces, from religious extremism to climate change and poverty; while solutions are "doable," "the Nobel Peace Prize is the rest of the world saying, “Don’t blow it.”

It's a time of rebranding for a beleaguered America, writes Bono in a New York Times op-ed, and a hopeful world is ready to swoon. "The idea of America, from the very start, was supposed to be contagious enough to sweep up and enthrall the world. And it is. The world wants to believe in America again because the world needs to believe in America again."

[Images (6)]

[Quotes (2)]

U2's Bono performs with the band during their 360 world tour stop at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)

U2's Bono attends the 2009 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009 in New York. (AP Photo/Stephen Chernin)

U2 frontman Bono sings in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the inaugural concert for President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama speaks about being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

In this Friday, Oct. 9, 2009 file photo, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, holds a picture of President Obama after Obama was announced winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Jon-Michael Josefsen, Scanpix)

President Barack Obama arrives in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, to speak about winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

The president’s words are more than a pop song people want to hear on the radio. They are lifelines. In dangerous, clangorous times, the idea of America rings like a bell. - Bono

These new steps—and those 36 words—remind the world that America is not just a country but an idea, a great idea about opportunity for all and responsibility to your fellow man. - Bono

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

To report an error on this story, notify our editors.

More Newser Stories

Obama Donates $1.4M Nobel Cash to 10 Charities

Most goes to veterans, Haiti, and education

(NEWSER) - President Obama has donated the $1.4 million he got with the Nobel Peace Prize to 10 charities, with a heavy emphasis on education. The most money, however, went to Fisher House, which provides care for patients at VA and military hospitals. It gets $250,000, while the Clinton-Bush Haiti fund gets $200,000. More»

Nobel Speech Bedevils Wartime President

Obama faces minefield in Oslo tomorrow

(NEWSER) - What to say when you're a Nobel Peace Prize winner who's just ordered 30,000 more troops to war? Barack Obama's acceptance speech in Oslo tomorrow presents a rhetorical minefield, testing the president's ability to articulate a moral vision for his foreign policy in the face of an escalating war and international criticism of his handling of human rights in China, Darfur, and Iran. More»

Obama Headed to Copenhagen for Climate Talks

He'll propose 17% cut in US emissions of greenhouse gases

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama will head to Copenhagen on Dec. 9—the day before his Nobel Prize ceremony in Oslo—to advocate for a comprehensive global climate accord. The White House had vacillated on whether Obama should go, since no one expects a legally binding treaty, insiders tell Politico . But Obama decided that he could help build momentum and consensus toward "a meaningful Copenhagen accord." More»

Mideast Peace Would Justify Obama's Nobel

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

(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. More»

Most of Nobel Panel Objected to Obama Pick

Chairman Thorbjoern Jagland talked fellow voters into selection

(NEWSER) - President Obama's Nobel Prize was a tough sell for the chairman of the committee that awarded the honor, with three of the five members initially opposing his selection, anonymous sources tell a Norwegian newspaper. They were persuaded mainly by chairman Thorbjoern Jagland, who strongly backed Obama from the beginning. The members agreed that Obama had solid nuclear disarmament and reconciliation initiatives in place, but some questioned whether he’d accomplished enough. More»

NEWS FROM OUR PARTNERS

What is Newser?

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser, we choose the most thought-provoking and entertaining stories from hundreds of US and international sources and reduce them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »

Partnering with: Slate

View Newser on the mobile website

Hey, America, Your Time Is Now: Bono