Below is the announcement from the Nobel Committee:The Norwegian Nobel Committee
The Nobel Peace Prize for 2009
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has attached special importance to Obama’s vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.
Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama’s initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.
Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world’s population.
For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world’s leading spokesman. The Committee endorses Obama’s appeal that “Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.”
Oslo, October 9, 2009
UPDATE by Lowell: Reactions start pouring in, including a one-word email by spokesman Robert Gibbs - "wow". :) Also, "After the president was awakened and told he had won, he said he was humbled to be selected, according to an administration official." And already, I see right wingers trying to disparage the award and to argue that Obama should turn it down. My question for them: why do you hate America?(mostly snark)
UPDATE #2: In fairness, and in contradiction to what I just wrote in Update #1, the more I think about this I'm truly shocked at the Nobel Prize award, actually thought it was a joke when I first saw the news. I mean, I think President Obama's going to end up as a great president, but I believe the deadline for Nobel Award nominees was February 1, which means that Obama would have been in office about 1 1/2 weeks at that time. As much as I think Obama will accomplish in his presidency over the next 7 1/2 years, I don't believe he had done that after just 10 days or so in office. All of which leads me to conclude that this was a totally political statement by the Nobel Prize committee, and far premature. Why didn't the Nobel Prize people wait until Obama actually does solve a major world problem (which I'm hopeful and cautiously optimistic that he will), be it Iran or the Arab-Israeli conflict or North Korea or whatever? One thing I'm concerned about is that handing out this award to President Obama now risks cheapening the Nobel Peace Prize. All in all, I don't get it. How about you?
UPDATE #3: Even my wife, who is a diehard Democrat and a huge Obama supporter, thinks that this makes no sense. Her comment was something to the effect that if we award the Peace Prize for rhetoric alone (which is all we had by February 1), we've really gone way downhill. I also can't help but think of the Nobel Peace Prize awards to Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin in 1978 for the Egypt-Israel peace treaty. Now that deserved the Nobel Peace Prize!
UPDATE #4: I agree with this comment by "KagroX" on twitter, "I don't know why they gave it to him, either. But if it's because he's not George W. Bush, that's the biggest F.U. ever awarded."
UPDATE #5: Creigh Deeds issues a statement.
Today I congratulate President Obama and applaud the Nobel Committee for their recognition of his efforts to strengthen diplomacy and increase cooperation throughout the world. While President Obama’s work has just begun, we’ve already seen what progress can be made by reaching out to the global community with an open hand rather than a closed fist. I join the Nobel Committee in standing by President Obama as he continues to spread his message of hope throughout the world.How about congratulating Obama for his efforts on fighting climate change - a threat to world peace, among many other things - as well?
UPDATE #6: Adam Bink at OpenLeft sums up my feelings almost exactly.
In the end, since it seems more important to get that kind of boost to one's credibility, stature, etc. and actually achieve some good, I'm glad he was awarded the Prize. I remain wholly skeptical of both the rationale and any real accomplishments, but progress is more important, and this furthers progress.
