Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, a stunning decision that comes just eight months into his presidency.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

The decision appeared to catch most observers by surprise. The president had not been mentioned as among front-runners for the prize, and the roomful of reporters gasped when Thorbjorn Jagland, chairman of the Nobel committee, uttered Obama's name.

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President Obama on Friday said he was "surprised and deeply humbled" by winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership," Obama said from the White House Rose Garden.

"I will accept this award as a call to action."

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A vision for approaching the world's major conflicts through dialogue and engagement rather than confrontation – one seen to contrast starkly with that of the previous American president – won US President Barack Obama this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

In announcing its surprise decision, the Norwegian Nobel Committee cited Mr. Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." The word "efforts" hints at the view from around the world – from laborers in Baghdad to world leaders – that awarding the prize to an American president in office just nine months was recognition more of Obama's aspirations than of any particular accomplishments.

The award, which caught the White House off guard, reflected a particularly European appreciation for Obama. After what Europeans widely called a dark period for America under President Bush, they see Obama as a leader who is returning the United States to a place of global leadership in challenges such as nuclear disarmament, the West's relations with the Islamic world, and climate change. "Thanks to" Obama, the committee said, "the USA is now playing a more constructive role" in international diplomacy.

That appreciation was captured in the words of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who said the peace prize for Obama recognizes the "return of America into the hearts of the people of the world."

The Nobel Committee's award to Obama was unusual in that the annual peace prize has traditionally recognized accomplishments or a life's body of work. But as the committee recognized in announcing the award, its own agenda is one "for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman."

"Obama's agenda – a world of zero nuclear weapons, fighting climate change, addressing Middle East peace, repairing relations between the US and the rest of the world, seeking rapprochement between the US and some if its major adversaries – seems so consistent with the purposes of the Nobel Peace Prize that even though Obama is in the early stages, the committee felt his presidency warranted recognition," says Charles Kupchan, an expert in US foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington.

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A surprised world greeted the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Barack Obama with a mixture of praise and skepticism on Friday.

In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee hailed Obama's "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg made clear the award carried big expectations, saying: "This is a surprising, an exciting prize. It remains to be seen if he will succeed with reconciliation, peace and nuclear disarmament."

Afghanistan's Taliban mocked the choice, saying it was absurd to give it to Obama when he had ordered 21,000 extra troops to Afghanistan this year.

"The Nobel prize for peace? Obama should have won the 'Nobel Prize for escalating violence and killing civilians'," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Japanese President Yukio Hatoyama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both said the prize should encourage everyone to help Obama rid the world of nuclear weapons.

"I think the peace prize was given with such a hope," Hatoyama told reporters on a visit to Beijing.

Merkel said Obama had shifted the tone toward dialogue in a very short time. "There is still much left to do, but a window of possibility has been opened," she said in Leipzig.

In the Middle East, chief Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said the award could be a good omen for the region.

"We hope that he will be able to achieve peace in the Middle East and achieve Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders and establish an independent Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital," he told Reuters.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told army radio the prize should enhance Obama's ability "to contribute to establishing regional peace in the Middle East and a settlement between us and the Palestinians that will bring security, prosperity and growth to all the peoples of the region."

The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and opposes a peace treaty with Israel, was more skeptical.

"Unless real and deep-rooted change is made in American policy toward recognizing the rights of the Palestinian people I would think such a prize would be useless," Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas prime minister in the Gaza Strip, told reporters after Friday prayers.

REAL CHANGE

Saleh al-Mutlaq, a senior Iraqi Sunni Muslim lawmaker, told Reuters: "I think he deserves this prize. Obama succeeded in making a real change in the policy of the United States -- a change from a policy that was exporting evil to the world to a policy exporting peace and stability to the world."

In Indonesia, Masdar Mas'udi, deputy head of the largest Muslim organization Nahdatul Ulama, said: "I think it's appropriate because he is the only American president who has reached out to us in peace. On the issues of race, religion, skin color, he has an open attitude."

In Pakistan, Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party, said: "It's a joke. How embarrassing for those who awarded it to him because he's done nothing for peace. What change has he brought in Iraq, the Middle East or Afghanistan?"

In Lebanon, Hezbollah member of parliament Hassan Fadlallah said he had seen no signs of peace from Obama yet. "We were waiting for deeds, not words that soon vanish," he said.

Irene Khan, secretary general of Amnesty International said the award raised expectations of Obama.

"We look to him for decisive action to pursue peace with justice in the Middle East, end the rollback on human rights in the name of counter terrorism and reinforce the fight against poverty at a time of economic crisis," she said. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called the award a bold sign of support for Obama. "It shows the hope his administration represents not only to our nation but to people around the world," Carter, who won the prize in 2002, said in a statement.

Poland's Lech Walesa, former leader of the pro-democracy Solidarity trade union that toppled communism, said it was too early. "So soon? This is too soon. He has not yet made a real input. He is proposing, he is starting, but he still has to do it all," Walesa, who won the prize in 1983, told reporters.

South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu, awarded the prize in 1984, said the latest choice was "a magnificent endorsement for the first African American president in history."

From Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo in western Kenya his uncle Said Obama told Reuters: "It is humbling for us as a family and we share in Barack's honor. We congratulate him."

Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangarai, who had been among the favorites to win this year, said Obama was an extraordinary example.

"I wish to congratulate President Obama. I think he is a deserving candidate," he told Reuters during a visit to Spain.

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President Obama's Republican adversaries reacted with swift disbelief to news that he had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday, with many in the party scoffing that the accolade was hardly justified by a record they described as incomplete at best.

"I think this may be way too preliminary," Republican strategist Ed Rollins told CNN moments after the prize was announced.

"At the end of four years, maybe he has accomplished something and deserves it," he added. "I think it has diminished the award itself. I think certainly you have to give him an "A" for trying, but at the end of the day, what has he accomplished? Who on the world stage are his allies at this point in time?"

In an official statement, the Republican National Committee said: "The real question Americans are asking is, 'What has President Obama actually accomplished?' It is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights. One thing is certain -- President Obama won't be receiving any awards from Americans for job creation, fiscal responsibility, or backing up rhetoric with concrete action."

Obama's worldwide celebrity became a campaign issue last year, after his Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, produced sneering ads describing him as "the One" and comparing him to the Messiah.

The McCain ad ran after then-candidate Obama toured Europe, promising an open hand to the world and a break from the cowboy-style diplomacy he accused then-president George W. Bush of practicing. And for a time, the ad worked, raising questions about whether Obama's promises were just lofty rhetoric.

Friday morning, Republicans were shaking their heads at what they described as reality imitating art. Several people who worked in the Bush White House said the choice of Obama -- lauded by the Nobel committee for, among other reasons, his call for a nuclear-free world -- primarily represented a condemnation of the Bush era. Some Republicans pointed to concrete gains Bush made in reducing the nuclear stockpile during his two terms in office -- he cut the supply by more than half -- as evidence that the Nobel committee had made its judgment based on politics rather than solid facts.

"At first I thought the announcement of the prize was a joke," said Michael Gerson, a former Bush speechwriter. "On further reflection, the Nobel Committee has made itself a joke. It has decided to give a ribbon before the race, a trophy for aspiration, a gold star for admirable sentiments."