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Wall Street Journal posted:Nobel Committee Chairman Draws Fire Over Pick
By PAUL SONNE and GUY CHAZAN
Thorbjørn Jagland helped shepherd the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama, setting off a war over whether the award was deserved -- and landing himself squarely in the crosshairs.
Mr. Jagland is the stoic Norwegian chairman of the five-member Nobel Peace Prize committee, which stunned the world when it honored Mr. Obama with this year's award just months into his presidency. The announcement ignited a Nordic whodunit to determine what went on behind the committee's closed doors.
In pursuit of an explanation, most roads track to Mr. Jagland's door. Norwegian political experts say the 58-year-old, a first-time member of the committee who once served as prime minister and now heads the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy and human rights on the Continent, pressed Mr. Obama's candidacy and played a crucial role in crowning him this year's honoree.
Despite the outcry surrounding this year's award, Mr. Jagland has weathered the storm with reserve. He says accusations that he personally pushed the choice reflect Norwegian domestic political intrigue, and maintains that while he had an impact, the decision was taken unanimously and hardly his alone.
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At the same time, he fiercely defends this year's prize. "If you are not able to make a courageous decision, you cannot help move the world in the right direction," Mr. Jagland said in an interview Thursday from the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. "If you are afraid of criticism or debate, then you shouldn't have that kind of position or be in politics at all."
The Obama prize has generated debate and become an instant punch line around the world. When David Beckham was named "man of the match" in England's World Cup qualifying soccer game this week despite playing for just 30 minutes, his coach, Fabio Capello, mocked the honor as being "like Obama getting the Nobel Prize."
The five members of the Nobel Committee represent parties from across the political spectrum and are elected by the Norwegian Parliament. Each recipient of a peace prize receives a cash award of about $1.4 million from a fund endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel. (The White House said Mr. Obama will give the money to charity.) Though the fund lost 19% of its value last year amid the global recession, it has fared better than some other major endowments.
Coming from a committee headed by Mr. Jagland, the award makes sense. He is often described as a risk taker who thinks on a grand scale -- an intellectual who, at times, has faced trouble translating his vision into practical policies.
The son of a shipyard welder and a cook, Mr. Jagland rose to prominence in the Norwegian Labor Party. In a 1990 book called "My European Dream," he articulated his vision for a united Europe in the wake of the Berlin Wall's collapse. Like Mr. Obama, he preaches a politics of acceptance, which most recently came to the fore when he warned of growing Islamophobia and anti-Islamic fear-mongering in Europe.
"It's easy to see why a great visionary like Obama appeals to Jagland," said Lars Halvor Mageroy, commentary editor at Norwegian tabloid Verdens Gang. "People say that vision is all that Obama has to show at this point, but Jagland is a politician who finds that aspect of politics to be of great significance."
Asked about his political values, Mr. Jagland cited a respect for human rights, plus the Scandinavian belief in fair distribution of incomes and the right to free health care that every Norwegian enjoys. He classifies himself in the social-democratic tradition of European leaders whose outlook combines faith in international cooperation and diplomacy with trust in social welfare at home.
Such clues prompted Gerhard Helskog to become one of the few journalists in Norway to predict this year's Peace Prize winner correctly. "He likes to talk about big moments in history," Mr. Helskog said. "I think he went to the committee and said, 'Let's think big…let's start a discussion.'" In a television interview before the announcement, Mr. Jagland said he wanted this year's prize to prompt people from around the world to nod in approval -- which Mr. Helskog took as a sign that this year's recipient would be a recognizable international figure.
A recent poll found that about 43% of Norwegians think Mr. Obama deserved the award. Siv Jensen, leader of the opposition Progress Party, nonetheless has called for Mr. Jagland to step down from the Nobel committee chairmanship. She says it is a conflict of interest for him to run the Council of Europe and also choose the Peace Prize winner. If a human-rights advocate from a given country came up for the prize, he might not want to choose that person because it would endanger the Council's dealings with that country, she says. She also credited him with pushing Mr. Obama's candidacy. "It was his decision," she says. "Jagland was seeking publicity for himself."
Mr. Jagland says the prize doesn't need more publicity, and that a member of Ms. Jensen's party on the Nobel committee agreed on choosing Mr. Obama.
Detractors claim Mr. Jagland advocated for Mr. Obama because he wanted to bring the president to Norway. Others say he and the committee slighted more worthy candidates, such as imprisoned Chinese activist Hu Jia and Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Afghan human-rights worker Sima Samar, all of whom could use the protection and support a Nobel Peace Prize would bring.
Under the leadership of the previous chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjos, the committee selected relatively low-profile laureates -- Iranian human-rights advocate Shirin Ebadi, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai, Bangladeshi microfinance banker Muhammad Yunus and Finnish diplomat Martti Ahtisaari -- with the exception of the 2007 winner, former Vice President Al Gore.
The Obama award comes as the president is weighing sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Mr. Jagland counters that Afghanistan didn't begin with the U.S., but rather with a joint United Nations Security Council resolution.
"I don't share the view that this is something Barack Obama should have to resolve on his own, and that is something he is also saying -- that everyone has to take their share, not only there, but in all other conflicts we have globally," Mr. Jagland says.
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