(Thumbnail image: White House photo)

“I am the commander-in-chief of the military of the nation in the midst of two wars.” (CNN)

When the Nobel Committee announced President Barack Obama as its Peace Prize recipient in early October, critics pounced on the president as unworthy of the honor.

But after the president’s acceptance speech in Oslo Thursday, many of those critics have done an about face.

We’re looking at perspectives from FOX News, MSNBC, Russia Today, True Slant, and The Washington Post.

FOX News notes conservatives have emerged in surprising support of the president’s speech, with special praise for the Mr. Obama’s defense of war.

“It was a very strong affirmation of human rights as the basis for peace, which is something George Bush argued again and again... Sometimes war is necessary, and he made a good case for that.”

Much of the coverage of Mr. Obama’s speech focused on the irony of a war-time president accepting a prize for peace.  An MSNBC “Morning Joe” panel makes that irony the focus of its debate.

“He really used that speech as a justification for a moral war. It was much more about war than peace.  It was also very pro-American if I can use that term, basically saying, hey, you know what, it was American guns, American blood and American treasure that freed you folks from Hitler.”

A Russia Today commentator argues not only is the president’s acceptance ironic, it’s downright wrong.

“And this is exactly what I think Sir Alfred Nobel, the founder of the prize, had not in mind when he did what he did. I think, to my feeling, I’m sorry to say that, but this is corruption.”

The president in fact used the word “war” more than 40 times in his acceptance speech, causing many media commentators to draw comparisons between the president and his predecessor. True/Slant columnist Laurie Essig notes:

“Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today not with humility, but with the hubris of the ruler of an Empire.  Sounding almost exactly like his predecessor, the great peace activist George W. Bush…”

The Washington Post’s Richard Cohen takes the focus off the speech, and back onto whether Mr. Obama deserved the honor in the first place.

“Obama’s time may come, but he is not yet a great man. He is merely a famous man -- a very famous man. He had no right to give this speech and the Nobel committee had no right to ask him. Someday, Obama may grow into the speech he gave. It was a good speech -- but like a young wine, served before its time.”

How do you think President Obama handled his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance as a war-time president? Are critics being fair?

Writer: Newsy staff

Producer: Erika Roberts