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October 9, 2009
Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
President Barack Obama has won this year's Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," the Awards Committee announced Friday morning in Oslo. "He has created a new international climate," a statement said.
According to the White House, President Obama is humbled by the award.
The selection is considered a surprise since his name was not under speculation before the announcement. The committee said, "We are awarding Obama for what he has done. Many other people and leaders and nations have to respond in a positive way about President Obama's diplomacy."
Thorbjorn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and a former Prime Minister of Norway, told the press that Obama is being awarded for his past efforts, not future. Jagland said, "We are not awarding the prize for what may happen in the future, but for what he has done in the previous year. We would hope this will enhance what he is trying to do."
The only other sitting U.S. presidents to win the honor were Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Jimmy Carter earned the Nobel Peace Prize after he served.
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For all of the negative comments, you guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves. Makes no sense. They gave the award for: “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” is how they put it. Key word being effort. For him to make it this far with getting leaders that are enemies to talk come together is a great accomplishment in the step towards peace. The vote was unaninimous, and people over in foreign countries view these things with a different eye than our sometimes self-absorbed and ‘superficial’ selves. So many things happen abroad that a lot of us are unaware of or don’t care about. To always garner peace talks is a big deal to war torn countries and those nearby. He has a big voice and he uses it. People do listen. Yes we can.