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.

Rather than recognizing concrete achievement, the 2009 prize appeared intended to support initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.
"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," Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee said. "In the past year Obama has been a key person for important initiatives in the U.N. for nuclear disarmament and to set a completely new agenda for the Muslim world and East-West relations."
He added that the committee endorsed "Obama's appeal that 'Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges.'"

I'm with you SG.

What happened to people like MLK, Ghandi, Mother Teresa, etc as winners?
Nitefox told me that Al Gore won it for his stupid Global Warming thingy. Seriously?

Mother Teresa was a bad choice. Doing nothing is more worthy of a nobel prize than teaching a nation in a population crisis about the evils of using birth control.

Polish President Lech Walesa, a 1983 Nobel Peace laureate:

"This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let's see if he perseveres. Let's give him time to act," Walesa said.

The Nobel committee recognized Obama's efforts to solve complex global problems including working toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Watch the announcement of Obama as 2009 Nobel Peace Prize recipient

"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.

Jagland said the decision was "unanimous" and came with ease.

He rejected the notion that Obama had been recognized prematurely for his efforts and said the committee wanted to promote the president just it had Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 in his efforts to open up the Soviet Union.

"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," it said.

Bolding mine. I believe that is the relevant portion.

I'm pleased with the award and hope that is helps bear fruit with our diplomatic efforts abroad.

Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline