Just a few thoughts...

Wouldn't it be something if Barack Obama went to Oslo and didn't accept the Peace Prize? He could give a great speech about how he doesn't deserve it yet, but hopes to one day. Then he could go on to Copenhagen and put the weight of the United States behind a comprehensive global warming accord.

After he got back home, he could reverse course in Afghanistan and bring the troops home. To help Afghanistan stabilize, he would offer to buy all the opium that Afghani farmers could produce at "fair trade" prices. The opium could be used for pharmaceuticals, and if there's some left over, it could be destroyed. That would be a lot cheaper than having 100,000 troops over there, and the warlords would lose a lot of their power and financing.

Then he could accelerate the pullout of troops from Iraq. There would certainly be a mess in the vacuum that's left, but would it really be all that much worse than what's happening there now? Whatever came out of the vacuum would be more stable and viable than anything an American occupation can produce.

He'd still have lots left on his plate, what with Iran, Israel, US healthcare, saving the world economy, etc., etc., but he could go back to Oslo next year and get that Peace Prize that he would so richly deserve.

I can dream, can't I?