Apparently I underestimated the power of President Obama’s speeches. They just won him a Nobel Peace Prize.

You may recall that Barack Obama was elected president of the United States less than a year ago and since then, well, it’s been tough. Economy’s been roughed up; automakers needed bailouts; he can’t figure out what to do with inmates at Guantanamo (so he’s going to keep them there, regardless of what he may have said last year); Afghanistan, it turns out, is not the slam dunk short-sighted Democrats hoped it would be; health care reform is about as popular as Sarah Palin in the Castro; and even the French and British can’t quite figure out what Obama plans to do (if anything) about Iran developing nuclear weapons.

That last part is especially germane because the Nobel Committee lauded Obama’s commitment to a nuclear-free world. Other than sitting in the captain’s chair for a useless United Nations photo-op, it’s hard to identify how this commitment has been made manifest.

Another reason the Committee selected Obama? His commitment to democracy and human rights. Yet just this week we learned that Obama refuses to meet with the 1989 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Dalai Lama, until a time more conducive to the Chinese.

(The Chinese, you may recall, are now suffering under a tire tariff imposed by the Administration last month. Just another example of Obama’s commitment to hugging out the world’s problems.)

And then there’s the president’s commitment to ending global warming. Again, no substantial action, but some real good rhetoric about working together to solve international challenges. At least Al Gore had a PowerPoint presentation to justify his Nobel.

To be fair, we can’t expect President Obama to have accomplished very much by October 2009; he only took office in January. The real offender here is the Nobel Committee and the global liberal elite (the vast left-wing conspiracy), which, driven by puppy-love, just couldn’t wait to lick Obama’s face when he walked in the door.

From a domestic political perspective, this is helpful to Republicans (should anyone care to run for president in 2012). The brazenness with which the Nobel Committee acted only reinforces the notion that Obama lives a charmed life. He’s an image and an ideal more than a leader and a decision-maker. I suspect we’ll hear often that President Obama got his Nobel Prize, and now he can go home.

If the president were smart, he’d decline the award. He’d suggest giving it to someone who’s been on the world stage longer and has a record of accomplishment, like Bill Clinton. He’d say he’s honored by the recognition and it will inspire his commitment to achieving real change, but that for now there are many more deserving advocates of peace and justice in the world.

But I’d put slim odds on the president making that speech.