bob Shieffer joins us from Washington now bob we've been talking about this this morning you know this is a stunner on both sides for both republicans and Democrats Is this more a commentary on the current administration and the current president or the previous administration Bob ?
well I think what this is is a reflection of the general dislike for George Bush and the previous administration in europe It's almost as if the committee today was giving barack Obama a prize for not being George bush I think the president had a very difficult assignment this morning out in the Rose garden He had to appear humble but at the same time not embarrassed for receiving this award It reminds me of the old politician's prayer lord protect me from my friends I can take care of my enemies myself This I am afraid is going to widen the political divide in this country not bring it closer together and you can already see that The republican National Committee has already put out a strong statement saying this will just remind people that the President has not backed up strong rhetoric with any kind of action and now the democratic National Committee is responding by saying the republicans are aligning themselves with the Taliban now it begins and I think this is not going to help the president It's not .
bob how quickly or easily do you think the white House and the president can tamp down the controversy and all the questions we'll hear this weekend ?
I think what they have to do is just go back to business and get back to doing and facing all the problems and trying to resolve the problems that are on their plate right now There's really not much they can do about this besides what they've already done I think .
alright Bob Shieffer joining us from Washington wanna shift back now to chip Reid who's at the white House Chip any indication when the President's going to accept this award ?
Yeah he is going to go to oslo we believe it's december tenth to accept the award and I think he will do it with the same sense of humility that he just gave us here and I think he's got to do that because Bob is absolutely right you really risk increasing the partisan divide in this town if he goes out and crows about this because there really is a pretty good argument that this is aspirational not based on accomplishments at this point And we all know the I mean Ronald Reagan conservatives have long complained that Ronald Reagan never got a Nobel Peace prize for helping bring the cold War to an end but Jimmy carter and Al Gore and now Barack Obama have gotten Nobel Peace prizes So they believe it's a very political thing so they certainly don't wanna widen the political divide with this .
alright Chip Reid joining us from the white House Chip we'll see you again tonight there will be more about the President winning the nobel Peace Prize on your local news and on this CBS station and of course on tonight's CBS evening News with Katie couric For now I'm jeff Glor in New york .
