The controversy over Obama's deserving the Nobel Peace Prize is understandable. Those who point to his lack of accomplishments as opposed to, say, Vaclav Havel, the former president of Czechoslovakia, certainly have a point, though their greater concern is the implicit repudiation of the belligerent nationalistic policies of Bush/Cheney. The hateful noise coming from Obama's foes is stunning in its bitterness. Outside of our borders, the people who are upset about Obama's reward are largely in the Muslim world, particularly in Pakistan and Palestine. They make for strange bed-fellows.

Many in this country and around the world are deeply gratified with Obama's willingness to seek common ground and pursue our self-interest within the context of mutual respect and in partnership with the global community. Obama's adversaries jeer him for this award, claiming he hasn't done anything concrete to win it. In their haste to ridicule they've missed seeing or perhaps just strongly disagree with Obama's approach to pursing our domestic and foreign interests while extending an olive branch.

I don't think we Americans fully understood the depths to which this country's international reputation was destroyed during the Bush/Cheney era. If we don't listen to world news, how could we know? As a result we haven't fully understood the turnaround in the world's view that Obama and the American people have accomplished. Of course, this has yet to bear real fruit. But you can easily see how it could.

Three great threats that we all face on this planet are extreme poverty, extreme ideology and global warming. At his U.N. speech last month Obama embraced support for the millennium development goals that set the world's sights on the eradication of extreme poverty. He has promised and begun to focus on global warming and embrace renewable energy with the corollary benefit of weaning off dependence on Mideast oil. He is leading efforts in fighting nuclear proliferation, and is insistent on bringing basic health care to the tens of millions in this country who can't afford it. He has already done a huge amount to bring race relations in this country to a very different place, which is one of the major reasons why many have become so vicious in attacking him and lying about him — they know he threatens their politics of division and rule. He has also directly addressed the Muslim world, telling some hard truths, and played a small role in evoking a similar movement of hope and change in Iran.

Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to finally tell the Israelis that their self-destructive over-reaching is very damaging to themselves and to their standing in the world. Ousted leader and fellow laureate Shimon Peres of Israel sent a letter of congratulations to President Obama, saying: "Very few leaders if at all were able to change the mood of the entire world in such a short while with such a profound impact. You provided the entire humanity with fresh hope, with intellectual determination and a feeling that there is a lord in heaven and believers on earth." He went on, "Under your leadership, peace became a real and original agenda. And from Jerusalem, I am sure all the bells of engagement and understanding will ring again. You gave us a license to dream and act in a noble direction." The renewed view by many countries in the world that America is yet again a "beacon on a hill" gives us a great momentum.

The Republican National Committee sees it a bit differently. They released this memo to the press right after the Nobel announcement: "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain — President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility or backing up rhetoric with concrete action."

I think we ought to see this prize as an endorsement of Barack Obama's extraordinary reorientation of America in world politics, the immediate goodwill generated as a result, and an encouragement to see it through. He is America's president and darkness continues to threaten. He needs many allies and partners. In the midst of our domestic battles, and their ill-temper (of which I too am guilty), this is an attempt to tell us: Pause and look up for a moment, see how far we've come in receding from global conflict, and give this man a break for his efforts and the massive burdens he has inherited and now bears.

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Ian Wallis lives in Newburyport.