Will Peace Prize Affect Obama's Decision Making Process?

Our President won a Nobel Peace Prize today. There are a lot of great articles and posts already on this project, and I don't want to re-invent the wheel here, so if you are looking for some good takes on Obama winning the Nobel Prize, check out this article, this article, or this article.

What I wonder about though is how Obama winning the Peace Prize may affect his decision making process on Afghanistan or Iran. Right now, our President has two very important foreign policy issues to deal with, and both of which may require him to make a hard decision. This Peace Prize was given to him partly for his willingness to sit down and talk with dictators and willingness to consult with international opinion rather than going it alone, and now that he has it, he may be reluctant to anger or upset the international community with tough hard decisions.

For example, within the next year Iran will have nuclear weapons and the capability to deliver those warheads to Israel. What will Obama do about this? Will he conduct diplomacy and work with the international community to strike agreements which Iran will never follow? This is the type of work that will win him international awards like the Peace Prize, but also the type of work that will do little to make the world safer for freedom and democracy. Don't misunderstand- diplomacy and agreements are great, provided that they lead somewhere- experience though has shown that appeasement and agreements that mean nothing do not make the world a better place.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban are resurgent and the terrorists are focusing all of their energy on defeating us there. They tried in Iraq, and our response was to thumb our nose at international appeasement and go it alone, and win, and make Iraq a better place in spite of the world looking down at us. Now the terrorists are trying it in Afghanistan- concentrating forces and money there, trying to drive us out of that country so they can have a nation from which to attack all decent nations in the world. What will Obama do? Will he do what it takes to win, restoring order and peace in Afghanistan and making the world a better place, even if that means the world community no longer awards him?

Or will Obama feel pressure now that he has won the Peace Prize to not make enemies, even of evil people, and to not make war, even on countries that make war on us, and to give in to the demands of dictators, even if it makes the world a less safe place? Will Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize affect his decision making process? I certainly hope not.