Obama's 'eloquent' Nobel Peace Prize speech gets him plaudits from left and right - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize speech has been lauded by both Liberal and conservative pundits for its eloquence, humility and realism. Obama's speech, laid out in clear prose and compellingly delivered, clearly justified both the current war in Afghanistan and his ultimate aspiration: to replace war with peace. "A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies," Obama had said. But more noteworthy is the largely positive tone of reaction across the political spectrum. The Christian Science Monitor quoted conservative former House speaker Newt Gingrich, as saying: "I thought the speech was actually very good. And he clearly understood that he had been given the prize prematurely, but he used it as an occasion to remind people, first of all, as he said, that there is evil in the world." Nation.com writer John Nichols called the address "exceptionally well-reasoned and appropriately humble." He then quoted the Dalai Lama's reaction, which opted for a positive outlook: "I think the Nobel Peace Prize gives him more encouragement and also gives him more moral personal responsibility." Joe Klein, a left-of-centre columnist for Time magazine, praised Obama for delivering "an intellectually rigorous and morally lucid speech that balanced the rationale for going to war against the need to build a more peaceful and equitable world." On the heels of Obama's decision to send 30,000 additional US forces into Afghanistan - an irony the president himself acknowledged up front -some conservatives also approved of Obama's speech. Cal Thomas lauded Obama for saying: "We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes."