Washington, Oct. 9: When Barack Obama was picked today as the Nobel laureate with the least accomplishments in the entire history of the prize, not very far from the White House was another Nobel Peace Prize winner who has made India his home: the Dalai Lama.

In an ideal world, the Dalai Lama would meet, greet and welcome the newest member of what is arguably the world's most exclusive club, especially since the two men have worked for peace in the Nobel Committee’s assessment.

But that will not happen. Although the Dalai Lama is spending a week in Washington, his itinerary will not include a meeting with the US president because Obama, unlike his predecessor George W. Bush in 2007, does not want -- or perhaps cannot afford -- to annoy the Chinese.

That, in a nutshell, sums up one of the many contradictions in the somewhat bizarre decision today to award Obama the Nobel Peace Prize after he has been US president for just about nine months and before that a mere incomplete one-term US Senator.

Unlike two other sitting US presidents who got the Nobel before Obama, Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919, the world in which Obama’s award has to be seen as deserving, is a very different one.

Nothing underscores this as Obama’s unwillingness to meet the Dalai Lama in the face of China's rising big power status.

When a subdued Obama appeared before reporters this morning to make a statement on his award, it was clear that Obama was painfully aware of this predicament.

Supremely humble and modest in his crowning achievement, Obama frankly admitted that he did not deserve the Nobel and be in the company of the illustrious awardees who have preceded him.

But he put the best face on it in the context of anticipated domestic criticism by saying that “I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century”.

Obama also addressed another contradiction in the award by suo motu acknowledging that although his award was for peace, he was commander in chief of an army that was engaged in two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ironically, later in the day when the Peace Prize was conferred on him, Obama will be taking a key meeting that will decide how to expand the war in Afghanistan.

“We have to confront the world as we know it,” he rationalised.

The chairman of the Republican Party, Michael Steele, dismissed the award for the president and argued that he won the Nobel because of his “star power”, not because of any worthwhile accomplishments.

“The real question Americans are asking is, what has President Obama actually accomplished?” Steele said.

That sentiment was echoed by another Nobel Peace Prize winner, former Polish President Lech Walesa. “What? So quickly? He has no contribution so far…. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act,” Walesa said.

But elsewhere, reaction was welcoming. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, described the award as the embodiment of the “return of America into the hearts of the people of the world”.

The award will be seen by many as the Nobel Committee’s judgement on Bush, who is seen abroad and by many in the US as America’s worst President ever.

The very first item that Obama mentioned when he spoke to reporters today was on the need to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to more nations and the urgency of eliminating all nuclear arsenal.

Another item that figured today was climate change. India and the US are not on the same page on either issue.

That sets the stage for a curiously interesting meeting between Obama and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when the latter goes to the White House at the end of next month.

Obama can now talk about any differences with India with the moral authority of someone who has been recognised with the highest global award for peace. So far he has always deferred to Singh for whom Obama is known to have very high regard.

Obama’s surprise award hit Washington early morning as Americans were preparing for an extended weekend because of Columbus Day, a national holiday on Monday.

Most people received the news with a mixture of incredulity and disbelief.

A succession of TV commentators appeared on news programmes with a common thread of argument that Obama had been given an ‘A’ grade before he had taken the test.

One commentator pointed out that his report card in office read “Incomplete” because the President had not completed even a full year in office before being judged.