"I liked what he said. I talked too in my book about the fallen nature of man and why war is necessary at times." För Palin blev talet också personligt: Hennes äldsta 20-årige son Track, armé infanterist återvände nyligen från en tur i Irak.
"I'm on my knees more than ever praying for his safety along with all of his fellow troops," sa Palin. "Of course, war is the last thing any American, I believe, wants to have to engage in, but it's necessary. We have to stop these terrorists over there."
Obama fick även tummen upp av Michael Gerson - president Bushs främsta talskrivare och en av hans främsta rådgivare, som på Washington Post kommenterade Obamas tal med att skriva:
"President Obama’s Nobel Prize Lecture was complex and impressive. It is the only Obama speech I can recall when expectations were low, and he exceeded them dramatically...
....it was a very American speech. Obama did not present himself, as he has done before, as a “citizen of the world.” He spoke as an American president, with vast responsibilities, requiring difficult choices of war and peace. “The United States of America,” he said, “has helped underwrite global security for more than six decades with the blood of our citizens and the strength of our arms.” This was a useful reminder to Europeans that they live in a bubble of security they did not create and do little to maintain."
Och han avslutar lite längre fram med att skriva:
"the intellectual approach of the speech was sophisticated, rich and memorable. Obama described a Niebuhrian tension between a fallen world that demands force to restrain evil and a realm of ideals that draws us beyond those compromises. And he embodied this argument in a kind of dialogue with Martin Luther King, Jr., recognizing the power of nonviolence, but pointing out its limits. It was a bold and powerful historical statement. Obama – the result and heir of a nonviolent movement that was dedicated to the law of love – is now a president who must use force to keep the peace. It was the speech of a maturing leader, who fully occupied a large stage."
Faktum är att Obamas retorik påminner väldigt mycket om såväl Bushs om Gersons egen (läs ett stycke ur Gersons bok som handlar om rättfärdiga krig och pacifism - samma ämne Obama talade om - en bit ned i följande blogginlägg). Howard Fineman noterar detta i en artikel på Newsweek och skriver:
"The Norwegians weren't applauding the peace-prize acceptance speech President Obama just gave in Oslo and I know why. The speech in many ways could have been written for, and delivered by, a man they loathe: George W. Bush.
...Obama accepted most of the fundamental premises of his maligned predecessor's post-9/11 theory of the world. Yes, Obama said, there is evil in the world and it must be confronted. Al Qaeda is evil, he said. No, "Holy War"—jihad—can never be a "just" war. America not only has a duty but self-interest in spreading free speech and freedom of religion around the world, even in places and cultures that seem to reject it, because those values are "universal."
There was more. The word "terrorism"—recently absent from Obama's foreign-policy speeches—made a comeback, big time.
... It was as if Obama was saying: even THIS president doesn't do canapés and champagne with European peaceniks! Hoo-ah! After the speech, Karl Rove was crowing, if you can crow by Twitter. "Tweeted that Gerson and Thiessen had gone to work at the Obama White House," he e-mailed me—Gerson and Thiessen being the two neo-con wordsmiths in the Bush shop."
Att den neokonservativa falangen av den amerikanska högern gladde sig - torde dock inte stått som någon överraskning. Riktigt alla konservativa var dock inte nöjda med Obamas tal. John Bolton - USA:s mustachprydde tidigare FN-ambassadör - sa:
“It followed the standard international leftist line. He played to the crowd and filled the speech with clichés from the American and international left by saying ‘America cannot act alone’ and that he ‘prohibited torture.’ The speech was also typical of Obama in its self-centeredness and ‘something for everybody’ approach.... It was so diffuse that though I wouldn’t call it incoherent, it was getting close,”
Något som får en att undra om Bolton bemödade sig med att lyssna på hela talet, eller om han redan på förhand bestämde sig för hur han skulle kommentera det. Fler kritiker fanns dock. David Frum - under en kort period också han president Bushs talskrivare (anställd av Gerson), som myntade begreppet "Ondskans axelmakter", skriver på sin tankesmedja Frum Forum (tidigare New Majority):
"First Obama tells us how humble he is. Then he tells us that he is bending history in the direction of justice – a phrase that associates himself with Martin Luther King. Charming.
But it gets worse... Obama managed to insert two references to himself in a sentence that found room for only one reference of King. And there are surely ways to praise Dr King without exalting yourself even higher. As is, it seems that King is a great man because he made Obama’s career possible. One wonders: surely there must have been at least one or two other beneficiaries of King’s work as well?
This tendency to present the person of Barack Obama as the magnificent culmination of history is growing into a bad habit."
Naturligtvis finns det saker att kritisera i Obamas tal - däribland hans oförståelse gällande Irakkriget (som mängder av hans främsta ministrar röstade för) och hans extremt förenklade syn på Guantanamo (de flesta av Nobelfolket i Oslo kan förmodligen föga om Bagrambasen) - för att inte tala om hans indirekta sätt att framställa sig själv som "Bushs motsats". Men inget av det är direkt nytt - vad som var positivt förvånande var snarare att talet inte centrerade kring de sakerna, dess underliggande budskap var istället ett patriotiskt tal till försvar för USA:s roll i världshistorien och i samtiden. Det är det som bör känneteckna en amerikansk president, en roll president Obama nu tycks axla. Därför förtjänar han också de konservativas stöd.
Att han fortfarande i många avseenden ställer "sig själv" i centrum gör inte så värst mycket. För som president Bush påminde Obama om - när denne efter valsegern 2008 besökte Vita Huset i sällskap av alla de andra nu levande fd presidenterna: "the office itself transcends the individual". Det gällde George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Lincoln och Roosevelt (båda två). Det gällde Bush (båda två där med) och det gäller även Obama. Hur han själv ser på den saken är inte lika intressant, i synnerhet inte när han utifrån sitt ämbete fullföljer den uppgift det amerikanska presidentämbetet är avsett att fylla. President Bush tittade på Obama och sa så här när han stod värd för presidentlunchen i Vita Huset:
"I wanna thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presidents for lunch. One message that I have and I think we all share, is that we want you to succeed. Whether we´re Democrat or Republican we care deeply about this country. And to the extent we can we look forward to sharing our experiences with you. All of us who have served in this office understand that the office itself transcends the individual. We wish you all the very best, and so does the country."
Se även tidigare inlägg:
Konservativa prisar Obamas nobeltal 20091210
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