President Barack Obama arrived in Oslo to humbly receive his Nobel Peace Prize. The president gave a speech that he largely wrote himself, primarily defending his decision to stay engulfed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can read the text version of the president's acceptance speech by clicking here.

Receiving the prestigious award creates puts the president in a quandary, since the Nobel Peace Prize is supposed to be awarded to the person who "during the preceding year [...] shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

Does President Obama deserve the prize? Of course he does. Or maybe he doesn't. It all depends on how you look at it.

The decision to bestow the award on the president was a huge shot in the arm for his political legitimacy. The Nobel committee correctly realized that Obama had done more than anyone could hope to slow the progress of the Bush war machine, which consisted of a pack of Texas cowboys who seemed to believe that they had a God-given right to disrespect the sovereignty of any nation they chose. We all know by now that the invasion of Iraq was a tragic and horrifically flawed decision on the part of a highly incompetent leader. George W. Bush wasn't qualified to manage a Burger King, let alone run the most powerful nation on earth.

President Obama has had to responsibly and intelligently manage the military and economic messes created by Bush. What is clear is that Obama would not have decided to invade Iraq himself, and he may not have even gotten involved in Afghanistan. What is also true, however, is that an immediate withdrawal, at this point, would make absolutely no political sense.

This speech comes at an awkward time for President Obama, given that his poll numbers are low, millions of Americans are out of work and he just sent another 30,000 troops to help finish the war that George Bush started. He spent much of his Nobel acceptance speech defending his decision to maintain the war and didn't even stay for the second day of ceremonies, which was an insult to the Nobel committee. I would even venture to say that had the committee known that Obama was going to give this particular speech, leave so quickly and send more troops to Afghanistan, they would not have given him the award. His justifiable snub was like saying, "Thanks for the prize. Love ya, sorry, gotta run!" That is hardly the way such a prestigious committee would expect to be treated.

I am happy to see Barack Obama win the Nobel Prize. His dramatic rise to the top of global politics slowed the tragic momentum created by Republican warmongers. Obama's efforts have begun to slowly steer our large political ship back in the right direction, but the change is not going to occur overnight. We must all be patient with the president, while realizing that he must be held accountable for his activities. The greatest concern for me is that I am firmly convinced that Obama is doing a great deal of on-the-job training, due to the implementation of fresh ideas, which could very well lead to a long list of serious mistakes.

The world has placed a tremendous amount of hope on the shoulders of this young leader, but in his darkest days and nights, I am sure that even he wonders if he is up to this awesome task. Only time will give us the answer to that question.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.