Obama says he'll accept Nobel as 'call to action'
By The Associated Press
This article was originally published October 9, 2009 at 6:54 a.m. Updated October 9, 2009 at 10:44 a.m.
Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama are the three sitting presidents who have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
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OSLO, Norway — President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.
A beaming Obama says he’s honored to win the prize, but says he isn’t sure he’s done enough to earn it.
Appearing in the Rose Garden on Friday, Obama acknowledged he was “both surprised and deeply humbled” to win the award.
He said he does not “view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments,” but rather as a recognition of goals he has set for the United States and the world. Obama said, “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize.”
Obama will travel to Oslo, Norway, in December to accept the award.
The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.
“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.”
The committee said it 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,” the committee said.
Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the U.N. panel on climate change.
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ADODIBRO says... October 9, 2009 at 10:07 a.m.
THIS IS INDEED "AMAZING". GOD IS SHOWING FAVOR TO THIS COUNTRY THROUGH OUR PRESIDENT.
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YoungHog says... October 9, 2009 at 12:28 p.m.
I LOVE IT..
This is HOT and very note worthy that other countries are seeing our Presidents vision toward the people.
I commend him and congratulate him.
Roy Montgomery
aka YOUNGHOG
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