Should Obama Turn It Down?

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, but should he accept it? Mickey Kaus suggests at Slate that Obama “ Politely decline. Say he's honored but he hasn't had the time yet to accomplish what he wants to accomplish. Result: He gets at least the same amount of glory—and helps solve his narcissism problem and his Fred Armisen ('What's he done?') problem, demonstrating that he's uncomfortable with his reputation as a man overcelebrated for his potential long before he's started to realize it.” Michael Crowley at The New Republic says Obama should consider declining the prize, calling it a “mixed blessing” that is not likely to move either the Arabs or the Israelis. Alex Massie writes, “Accepting a prize of such magnitude in return for little in the way of real achievement makes Obama look foolish.” But Matt Cooper at The Atlantic disagrees, saying “it can’t hurt” and that “At some level I think it gives him the political space to sell whatever he comes up with on Afghanistan.”