President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Now this is a surpise, isn't it?  I bet Barack Obama is more surprised than anyone.

Although I wonder if this might be a bit premature, I understand the Nobel committee's point...Obama is being recognized for giving the world hope again.  None of us can work for peace if we don't have hope.  For a time it seemed hope was gone and peace was a pipe dream.  It may still be a long, slow, difficult process to get to a world of peace, but the first step is hope - the belief that its possible.  And Obama gave the world hope, he made many of us believe again.  God bless the ones who have always believed, but the truth is many of us had given in to despair.

Can you imagine the pressure Obama must feel?
I believe he'll maintain his sense of humility, but I'd find it difficult to be a regular person amid all the accolades and high expectations. 

I will continue to have faith in his true friends and family to help him keep things in perspective.

Strangely, I feel uncomfortable thinking about him actually participating in the Nobel ceremony and accepting the prize.  It seems awkward.  He could say "I know you are encouraging me in my efforts and expressing support for the peace movement, but..." and then I don't know what he'd say.  What should he do?  It seems awkward no matter what he does.  He's going to speak at 7:30 this morning - it'll be interesting to hear.

From the announcement by the Nobel Peace Prize committee:

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. The Committee has 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. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations. Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

"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.

"For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman. The Committee endorses 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."

UPDATE I: I like this comment in response to a Peter Beinart piece on The Daily Beast in which Beinart says the President has done nothing to deserve the award and it plays into the right's arguments that Obamamania bears no relation to reality.

And, I think Mickey Kaus from Slate makes a good point...