Obama has bolstered America's global standing': US media

"Mr Obama has bolstered this country's global standing by renouncing torture, this time with credibility; by pledging to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; by rejoining the effort to combat climate change and to rid the world of nuclear weapons; by recommitting himself to ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and by offering to engage Iran while also insisting that it abandon its nuclear ambitions," The New York Times said in its lead editorial.

The US President did not seek the prize but it was a reminder of the extraordinary expectations from any American president and brought focus on the things he had to do to make the world and the country safer, the daily said.
"To those enthralled with the president, the prize signals America's return to global leadership after the Bush administration. But to the growing number of Americans less pleased with Obama, the award is a warning sign," Ronald Krebs wrote in The Washington Post.
"For Obama's defenders, the peace prize confirms their faith. For his detractors, it stokes their fear," he said.

"Our own reaction is bemusement at the Norwegian decision to offer what amounts to the world's first futures prize in diplomacy, with the Nobel Committee anticipating the heroic concessions that it believes Mr Obama will make to secure treaties that will produce a new era of global serenity," The Wall Street Journal wrote in its editorial.

Obama saw the US differently and called for humbler America, at best a first among equals, the Journal said, adding it suggested the end of so called 'American exceptionalism.'
The award undoubtedly carries benefits, said a news analysis in The Chicago Tribune. "And winning the Nobel might strengthen Obama's diplomatic hand as he enters negotiations with North Korea and Iran," it said.
The Boston Globe had its editorial headlines: "Now Obama needs to earn the prize he won too soon." Whether or not the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Obama prematurely, global awareness of the award can translate into a valuable American asset, the daily said.
"Hard-headed leaders in Tehran, Moscow, or Pyongyang will not suddenly do Obama's bidding simply because he has been praised by a committee of dignitaries in Oslo. But this Peace Prize carries a message for those leaders and their publics. It says that instead of being outside an international consensus, the United States today stands at the centre of that consensus," The Boston Globe wrote.
The daily hoped that Obama would earn his prize by making the most of 'American soft power' which was enhanced by the yesterday's announcement.