Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize - No Joke - This Is Not April Fools

OCTOBER 9, 2009, 9:06 A.M. ET.
Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize in Surprise Pick By PAUL SONNE and NEIL KING JR.

President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, in a surprise pick from the Norwegian Nobel Committee that cited the president's creation of a "new climate in international politics" and his work on nuclear disarmament.


The decision makes President Obama, 48 years old, son of an American woman and Kenyan father, the youngest U.S. president to win the prize and the third, after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, to do so while in office. Mr. Obama's win comes 45 years after the prize was awarded to Martin Luther King Jr., the last African American to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Though Mr. Obama was inaugurated in January and has been president for only 37 weeks, the Nobel Committee praised him for giving the world hope for a better future and reinvigorating the role of multilateral diplomacy in the international community.

"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," the committee said. The committee also said it gave "special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

Agot Valle, a Norwegian politician and member of the five-person Nobel committee, said in a phone interview that the choice of President Obama was primarily related to his stance on nuclear disarmament. Ms. Valle said the committee last met on Oct. 5, and that the decision to choose President Obama was unanimous. She said his recent work at the United Nations in late September to pass a resolution calling for a strengthened Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty helped his candidacy.

The head of the committee that awards the annual Nobel Peace Prize explains why it was given to U.S. President Barack Obama. Courtesy Reuters.

"There is a criticism about the war in Afghanistan, and I understand that," said Ms. Valle. "But this was primarily an award on his work on, and commitment to, nuclear disarmament – and his dialogue. Of course there will be criticism, because he hasn't achieved his goals yet. It will take time, but this is a support."

Mr. Obama's win includes a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor (about $1.4 million).

The Nobel committee's surprise choice may bring criticism that the president's popular status internationally -- particularly relative to former President George W. Bush -- overshadowed his lack of accomplishments this early in his presidency.

Indeed, Mr. Obama's concrete record on peacemaking is still in its formative stages. He inherited two wars -- in Iraq and Afghanistan -- that have dragged on for years and seen sagging support from allies and U.S. voters.

While the Nobel judges said they hoped to enhance Mr. Obama's diplomatic efforts, the prize could come as an unwanted distraction for a White House already facing significant obstacles in advancing its ambitious policy agenda.

The honor is likely to provoke scorn on the right, where critics have long accused Mr. Obama, well before his years in the White House, of receiving undeserved accolades and attention. Coming as the president's public approval ratings have dipped to almost 50%, the award could also underscore the impression in some circles that Mr. Obama is more beloved in Europe than he is at home.

On the foreign policy front -- the focus of the prize -- Mr. Obama's administration is still in its infancy. Obama aides are working to coax Iran away from its alleged nuclear-weapons program, but the effort remains tenuous at best. Similarly, his foreign policy team is struggling with how to revamp its strategy in the eight-year-old Afghan war, where conditions on the ground have by many accounts worsened.

Recent Peace Prize Winners2009 -- U.S. President Barack Obama for efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation.
2008 -- Former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari for peace work from Namibia to Kosovo.
2007 -- Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
2006 -- Muhammad Yunus and Bangladesh's Grameen Bank for work to end poverty.
2005 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency and its head, Mohamed ElBaradei.
List of All Nobel Peace Prize Laureates .
Also unresolved in the still-new administration are issues such as the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Mr. Obama won international plaudits when he promised to close the center during last year's campaign, but turning that pledge into reality has proven difficult. The administration has also come under fire from human-rights groups for standing by some of the detention policies of President George W. Bush and for its lukewarm efforts to pressure the Sudanese government over the longstanding conflict in Darfur.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod said Friday morning he knew nothing of the president's candidacy much less his pending Nobel Prize.

In past years, the names of finalists for the Peace Prize have generally leaked during the deliberations. Campaigns were mounted on behalf of former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Al Gore.

"I personally never knew," Mr. Axelrod said in an e-mail.

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said the president had nothing to fear from raised expectations or possible attacks from critics that the prize outstrips his accomplishments "because this is associated with the content of his work."

Nobel awards to active government officials have often stirred controversy, as when Henry Kissinger won in 1973 for his efforts to strike a peace deal with North Vietnam. Awards to more embattled activists, such as the Polish labor leader Lech Walesa in 1983, have often given those winners a prominence that has aided their work.

—Jonathan Weisman contributed to this article.
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Comment by Josie on October 9, 2009 at 9:21am
My two cents on this sham:
Whatta pile of BS!


Comment by Josie on October 9, 2009 at 9:20am Well said Donny! I agree with you 100%, & you've got an incredibly way with words it's admirable.

Comment by Donny Buckman on October 9, 2009 at 7:45am The world, it seems, is so racist that because the US elected a non-white non-American as president they can finally see past our multiplicity and cheer him on. If they think that the entire nation is ready to fall in line with the self-destructive nation-breaking policies of president Obama they are horribly mistaken. Unfortunately, the people of the world are smart enough to see the schism which is forming from the groundswell of liberty loving anti-communist America and have all purchased new televisions so they can watch the backlash. The strife and conflict which is being stirred into our "melting pot" ought to make for very entertaining viewing for anyone who isn't sitting on our continent.