(Chris Cillizza-in live chat on The Fix)...My guess is that both sides will try to use the surprising award for their own partisan purposes -- Democrats will tout it as tangible evidence that Obama has changed how the U.S. is viewed in the world, Republicans will argue this is yet another victory of style over substance for Obama -- and the people in the vast ideological middle will probably see the prize as nice (if a bit premature) and go on with their day.
I do think winning the Nobel will help bolster Obama's credibility within his own party on Afghanistan, which is a potentially sticky wicket given the concerns many Democrats have about repeating the mistakes the Bush Administration made in Iraq.
But, if the initial reaction from Republicans is any indication, Obama winning the Nobel is not a political game-changer in any real way. Rather than congratulating him, Republicans have been very aggressive in questioning how a president who had been in office for two weeks when the nomination period ended could have possibly won.
Remember that Obama made a much-ballyhooed (and much criticized by Republicans) trip to Europe last summer when he was still a candidate for president.
The message of that trip -- and of Obama's campaign more broadly -- was that he represented a sharp contrast with the Bush Administration's approach to America's place in the world.
My guess is that messaging -- and the excitement it generated in Europe -- had as much if not more to do with Obama winning the award than what he has done since coming into office.
I do think winning the Nobel will help bolster Obama's credibility within his own party on Afghanistan, which is a potentially sticky wicket given the concerns many Democrats have about repeating the mistakes the Bush Administration made in Iraq.
But, if the initial reaction from Republicans is any indication, Obama winning the Nobel is not a political game-changer in any real way. Rather than congratulating him, Republicans have been very aggressive in questioning how a president who had been in office for two weeks when the nomination period ended could have possibly won.
Remember that Obama made a much-ballyhooed (and much criticized by Republicans) trip to Europe last summer when he was still a candidate for president.
The message of that trip -- and of Obama's campaign more broadly -- was that he represented a sharp contrast with the Bush Administration's approach to America's place in the world.
My guess is that messaging -- and the excitement it generated in Europe -- had as much if not more to do with Obama winning the award than what he has done since coming into office.
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