Obama garners rare unified praise for Nobel speech

With few exceptions, the address was received as a masterful defense of US policy, including the two wars Obama presides over even as he became a Nobel laureate.

Some of Obama's fiercest critics, including former Alaska governor and one-time Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, complimented the address.

"I liked what he said," Palin told USA Today newspaper, even adding that she had mentioned similar themes about "the fallen nature of man and why war is necessary at times" in her recent book "Going Rogue: An American Life."

"Of course war is the last thing any American I believe wants to have to engage in, but it's necessary. We have to stop these terrorists over there," she added.

Another Obama critic, former Republican House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich told The Takeaway radio program that Obama "did a very good job."

"I thought the speech was actually very good," Gringrich said, praising Obama for saying "that there is evil in the world."

"I thought in some ways it's a very historic speech," he said.