Obama Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize this morning for his work to improve international diplomacy and rid the world of nuclear weapons--a stunning decision to celebrate a figure virtually unknown in the world before he launched his campaign for the White House nearly three years ago. Especially considering that Barack Obama took office just two weeks before the deadline for Peace prize nominations.

Of president Obama, the committee said:

"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. 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 is only the third sitting U.S. president--and the first in 90 years--to win the prestigious peace prize. His predecessors won during their second White House terms, however, and after significant achievements in their diplomacy. Woodrow Wilson was awarded the price in 1919, after helping to found the League of Nations and shaping the Treatise of Versailles; and Theodore Roosevelt was the recipient in 1906 for his work to negotiate an end to the Russo-Japanese war.

The only other U.S. president to win the peace prize was Jimmy Carter, who won 22 years after leaving office, in 2002, for his work negotiating peace between Israel and Egypt.

Congratulations to the President.