It’s early Friday morning and the world is greeted with President Barack Obama winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Price. Some are are thrilled with this news but some are skeptical about it.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced President Obama was awarded for, “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation during his nine months in office.
“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,” the committee said. “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.”
Obama, 48, is the third sitting U.S. president–and the first in 90 years–to win the prestigious peace prize. The first one was Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 for his work to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese war and, Obama’s predecessor, Woodrow Wilson was awarded in 1919, after helping to found the League of Nations and shaping the Treatise of Versailles.
The chief Palestinian peace negotiator, Saeb Erekat, welcomed the decision of giving the awarding President Obama the prize. He said that the award could be a good sign for peace in 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.”
Meanwhile, in White House, it was 5am EDT when press secretary Robert Gibbs called before dawn and woke Obama with the news that he had won the prestigious honor which was announced in Oslo. “The president was humbled to be selected by the committee,” the official said.
Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, further said that they are just as stunned as the rest of the world.
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