Humility of Hype: Neither Peace Nor Prize for Obama — Yet

ABC News’ Rick Klein reports: Think he’d trade a Nobel Peace Prize for some peace in the Democratic Party?

Or a 60th vote in the Senate?

Or maybe he’d settle for bottling some of the adoration and bringing it back home with him?

President Obama on Thursday collected the Peace Prize by outlining an Obama doctrine — of “just war” and “just peace,” of “evolution” of institutions to reflect new realities — and by giving voice to a humility that was much of what he was recognized for in the first place.

“It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations — that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice,” the president said.

“And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage,” he continued. “But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of a military, of a nation, in the midst of two wars.”

It comes at what can fairly be described as a delicate time for his presidency — where he may take friendship in lieu of outright peace.

His critics are growing more vocal, on his left and on his right.

They see neither peace nor a big prize. His base is getting anxious — in a bobbing-and weaving Afghanistan policy, in a moving mess of a health care bill, in a domestic agenda frozen by domestic politics.

The president is left in an oddly familiar zone — in the middle of a whole lot of noise.

That’s noise he cut through on Thursday, as he accepted an award that reminds the nation and the world of the Obama of January 2009, rather than the Obama we see at the end of a tortuous first year in office.

More humility: “I have no doubt that there are others who may be more deserving,” the president said at his news conference Thursday, per ABC’s Jake Tapper, Sunlen Miller, and Ann Compton.

The message: “President Obama becomes the proud recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, but he knows he’s not in the same league as more deserving luminaries who have been given the honor,” The New York Daily News’ Ken Bazinet writes.

The rest of the Obamas’ day, per ABC’s Sunlen Miller: “In the evening, as is tradition, the President and First Lady will attend the Nobel Banquet at the Grand Hotel.  Mr. and Mrs. Obama will spend the night in Oslo and are anticipated to return to Washington, D.C. on Friday.”

Back on the home front — another poll, another new low:

“A bare majority of Americans support President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, but many are skeptical that the United States can count on Afghanistan as a partner in the fight or that the escalation would reduce the chances of a domestic terrorist attack, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll,” Adam Nagourney and Dalia Sussman write in the Times.

“The poll showed a steady slide in support for Mr. Obama as he approaches the end of his first year in office. His job approval rating has now hit 50 percent, the lowest yet in this poll; it was 68 percent at its peak in April. The percentage of Americans who approve of his handling of the economy has dropped to 47 percent from 54 percent in October. And 42 percent approve of the way he is handling health care, down five percentage points in the last few months.”

Tipping point in the polls? Nate Silver, of FiveThirtyEight.com: “Obama has started to reach a point where he’s losing support among some voters who voted for him — including some liberals. This marks a difference from before, when he was (mostly) eroding goodwill from people who hadn’t voted for him in the first place,” Silver writes for Politico.

On health care — new for the annals of openness and transparency: “Senate Democrats said on Wednesday that they were not sure exactly what was in a deal that the majority leader said would surmount a disagreement over a proposed government-run health plan. But they voiced guarded optimism that it would ultimately help them pass major health care legislation,” David M. Herszenhorn and Robert Pear write in The New York Times.

And does he see something that we don’t? “If there’s a trigger, I can’t support it,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.

Momentum: “Even Democrats who were not thrilled with the buy-in program applauded the deal’s central component: replacing the public option with two national private insurance policies under the oversight of the Office of Personnel Management,” The Washington Post’s Shailagh Murray and Lori Montgomery report.

“The notion that the Senate healthcare bill might have suddenly expanded its base of political support quickly took hold Wednesday,” Noam Levey and Bruce Japsen report in the Los Angeles Times. “President Obama endorsed the compromise. Many liberals who had been disappointed in the derailing of a government-run plan, or so-called public option, to compete with private insurers hailed the Medicare expansion idea.”

The day’s biggest boost: “I support this effort,” President Obama said Wednesday.

Think the CBO matters again? “Until the package that was sent is scored, we really don’t even know what’s in it,” Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., said, per Roll Call’s David M. Drucker and Emily Pierce.

“If the numbers look good, sources on Capitol Hill say, the group will probably agree on the proposal,” The New Republic’s Jonathan Cohn reports. “But, as always, that’s a big ‘if.’ And further modifications are entirely possible.”

Not going to help with moderates: “The last-minute introduction of this idea within the broader context of health reform raises numerous questions — not least of which is whether this proposal is a far more dramatic step toward a single-payer system than lawmakers on either side realize,” The Washington Post editorial reads.

Not going to help with liberals: “This much was apparent: A new government-run plan to compete with private insurers, an idea long sought by liberals and the White House, was barely alive,” McClatchy’s David Lightman and Margaret Talev report.

“The idea of an immediate plan to offer government insurance for all effectively died in the Senate this week of a thousand cuts,” Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown reports. “Rather than salvage the public option in a weakened form, Democrats looked for an alternative. And some well-timed advice from Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, helped to break the stalemate.”

(Yes, that’s Howard Dean on the Obama side — not the MoveOn.org side, of this particular intramural fight.)

“Whether or not the plan includes a public option — a federally run health plan — will apparently come down to how you define ‘public option,’ ” NPR’s Julie Rovner reports.

Not flying, on the left: “MoveOn sent an email to their members saying that Senate Democrats ‘bargained away the heart of health care reform — allowing conservative senators like Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson to hold th e process hostage and protect Big Insurance,’ ” ABC’s David Chalian reports. “In addition, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee is targeting the four liberal Senators (Feingold, Burris, Sanders, Brown) who have made clear their vote for health care reform was dependent upon a public option being included in the final bill.”

“Obama FAIL,” screams the e-mail from FireDogLake.com.

Free for the weekend: “I see no reason to punish everybody this weekend,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has a fundraiser in Louisiana to get down to on Saturday.

On the right — in a story you’ll see again, and again: “Buoyed by their success in capsizing a moderate Republican candidate this fall in Upstate New York, tea party activists and affiliated groups are unveiling new political action committees and tactics aimed at capitalizing on conservative opposition to health-care reform, financial bailouts and other Obama administration policies. The goal is to harness the anger that led to hundreds of protests around the country from spring to fall, including a gathering of tens of thousands of protesters on the Mall in September,” Dan Eggen and Perry Bacon Jr. write in The Washington Post.

Remember when the fight over regulatory reform was going to be in the Senate? “The House Democratic effort to overhaul regulation of the nation’s financial system ran into new internal resistance Wednesday, demonstrating the difficult balancing act the party faces in trying to shape rules to prevent a repeat of last year’s financial crisis,” Carl Hulse reports in The New York Times.

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.: “Differences have been narrowed and I think you’re getting something that both sides can live with,” Frank said, per Bloomberg’s Alison Vekshin and Lorraine Woellert.

Extending into jobs: “Long past dreams of Beltway comity, Obama is now in a political tight spot, wedged between sky-high unemployment and lingering concerns over government spending and debt. That choice pits the President’s left flank against his moderate supporters,” Time’s Michael Scherer writes.

The New Republic’s Noam Scheiber: “The basic problem is that any additional stimulus adds to the deficit, while deficit reduction steps on a weak economy. And so Democrats now find themselves having to pull off a balancing act that would seem to defy the laws of economics: taking on both tasks simultaneously.”

From the annals of bipartisanship: “President Barack Obama’s push for new job-creation legislation got off to a rocky start at a closed-door White House meeting Wednesday, when he accused Republicans of rooting against recovery and Republicans shot back that his policies had frozen business hiring,” The Wall Street Journal’s Jonathan Weisman reports.

The retirement of Rep. Brian Baird, D-Wash., makes three drips… “Just months after taking on angry town hall demonstrators, Washington Democratic Rep. Brian Baird said Wednesday he will not seek re-election to a seventh term,” Les Blumenthal writes for the Tacoma, Wash., News Tribune. “In a surprise announcement, Baird said he wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue other options. He did not elaborate.”

Chris Cillizza, at “The Fix” blog: “Baird’s retirement will increase chatter within Democratic circles that potentially vulnerable members are jumping ship rather than running the risk of losing their seats in what is shaping up to be a tough 2010 election. Top Democratic strategists have insisted that the retirements of Tanner and Moore were entirely isolated cases but they may struggle to make that case with Baird’s retirement added to the mix.”

New invite for the Salahis: “They masqueraded on White House grounds, shook hands with the president and then went on national television to talk about it. Now Tareq and Michaele Salahi say they intend to invoke their Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate themselves when faced with congressional subpoenas to testify under oath,” ABC’s John Parkinson and Devin Dwyer report.

No subpoena for Desiree Rogers — and limited patience for much more of this: “We should get back to things that are important to the country,” said Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao, R-La., per The Washington Post’s Jason Horowitz.

Sanford survives: “House lawmakers Wednesday rejected a measure to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford, making it unlikely the governor will be removed from office,” The State’s John O’Connor reports. “However, the special House impeachment panel approved an official rebuke – or censure – of Sanford for bringing ‘ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame’ on the state, its citizens and the governor’s office.” (We’re sure he won’t do it again.)

The Kicker:

“She will resist writing something sarcastic, since this will be recorded for the future.” — President Obama, on what his wife was signing in the official book for Nobel Prize winners.

“And I have to tell you that hurts. … We just called the people we get our Christmas trees from every year and told them to ship it down here.” — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., missing Vermont.

For up-to-the-minute political updates check out The Note’s blog . . . all day every day:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/