Seven-plus minutes of audio here on “the first post-accomplishment president,” but his point about Afghanistan is the crux of it. I noted this in the Nobel thread this morning but it bears repeating: For once, he and David Frum are in perfect sync.

That Nobel was not a gesture of Obama-worship by left-leaning Norwegians. It was the very opposite: It was a pre-emptive strike against Obama, an attempt to neutralize him. How can a Peace Nobelist strike Iranian nuclear plants? Or wage a protracted war in Afghanistan? Or tell the Palestinians, “Sorry, that’s the best offer, take it or leave it”? The hope of course is that he cannot.

Oh, now, be fair: He’s perfectly capable of abandoning Afghanistan to the Taliban without any Euro encouragement. Tapper makes a clever point, though, in noting how the award could potentially backfire by giving Obama political cover to embrace the hawk within. Now that he’s been anointed the prince of peace by the Nobel committee, any escalation in Afghanistan should presumably be supported by the “international community” as a measure taken for a just and noble purpose. Think that’s how it’ll play out? Click the image to watch.

Update: “This is a man of peace now.”