How Obama Could Earn His Nobel Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize, presented prospectively — a triumph of hope over inexperience — threatens to become a central metaphor of Barack Obama's turbocharged political career. He seems fated to be feted for who he is not (George W. Bush) and who he might turn out to be, but not for things he has actually done. This is dangerous stuff, politically. It almost guarantees disappointment. So the prize presents him with an immediate challenge: How does he go about actually earning it? The foreign policy that Obama favors, patient diplomacy on a multitude of fronts, requires qualities of wisdom,...