Conservatives have adopted Obama's Nobel speech as if it came from one of their own - hawkish right wing luminary Max Boot called it a masterpiece - I can't agree, even though it was somewhat well crafted [aside from some cloying wobbles into sentimentality, but I suppose you have to appease public tastes with these things], generally free from his usual nebulous idealist effusions and presented a view of American foreign policy that was distinctly moderate and reasonable and unburdened by liberal guilt, realistic if you will [although many now are criticizing the obviousness of some of the points it attempted to make ie the idea of 'just war' etc etc - and George Will has written a nice piece drawing attention to the fact that Obama can't seem to make a speech about anything without the subject of himself coming to dominate it - Will is fascinated by how many times the personal pronoun appears in the Nobel speech even though ostensibly it was supposed to be a defense of American foreign policy]. Nevertheless, I can't share an optimism that wants to believe that the speech represents Obama moderating his liberal ideology, of him growing into the presidency, as I think Boot put it - it could be that, sure, it could also be him throwing red meat to conservatives before heading off to Copenhagen to sell the country down the global warming river [an extreme example of a possible ulterior motive, but not out of the question] - in short, another political calculation - in fact, from what so far has been revealed about Obama and his inner circle and their way of governing, I'd say that without supporting evidence it'd be naive to think the speech anything other than a political calculation - after all, as I've said before, having made the dubious choice to accept the honour what option did he have but to give a speech similar to this? But what if he doesn't actually believe in the rhetoric? What if subsequent actions do not adequately reflect the somewhat realist tone of it? In a wider context then, outside of its political utility, wouldn't the speech end up doing more harm than good if it's only intention was to be a clever speech that conservatives could embrace?
I don't wanna be the constant cynic here [well, I do, actually] but my tendency is to think it very unwise to read too much into the speech. I freely grant that it may represent Obama's world view maturing under the weight of his responsibilities - but my instincts tell me otherwise.
