Idealism vs. reality

Idealism vs. reality

Plain Dealer: President Barack Obama’s speech in Oslo Thursday may not have been what the Norwegian parliamentarians had in mind when they selected him for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. But as a meditation on the conflict between idealism and reality as seen by the commander in chief of the only superpower in a sometimes hostile and often skeptical world, it was an eloquent presentation of his principles — and of America’s.

The president acknowledged the critics who find him as yet undeserving of the award, as well as the irony of receiving it a week after he ordered additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan. In words that might have been spoken by any number of his predecessors, he reminded his audience that evil exists in the world and sometimes cannot be confronted, let alone rolled back, by mere pleadings and goodwill.

Passion wins over apology

Obama offered no apologies for his decision to fight in Afghanistan. Indeed he seemed more passionate about the expanded mission than he was when he announced it at West Point. But the president also reminded his audience, and many of his countrymen, that there is no glory in war.

Peace, the newest Nobel laureate suggested, is more than a bumper sticker. It’s an ongoing process, and the most important work any leader — or nation — can do.