How Obama earned it

My brilliant wife suggests that what Obama did to earn the Nobel Prize was to succeed in getting Americans to elect a black man president. That's the historic achievement that has elicited many prior plaudits at home and abroad--and made a difference in how human beings around the world understand themselves and their relations with those of other races.

Second thought: I think Obama understands this, and obliquely acknowledged it when he said in his speech that he considered the prize "an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations."

Viz: African bishops.

Er: So Richard Cohen's wife agrees with my wife. Kind of.