Obama Nobel Prize

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He won award for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

When Nobel Committee announced Barack Obama as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, even the fresh-faced president appeared a little shocked.

Obama commented “To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformation figures who’ve been honored by this prize,”.

President Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with “deep gratitude and great humility”. The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures.

Obama Nobel Prize – Reaction

Obama noble prize was called a “stunning surprise” by The New York Times. President Obama  became fourth U.S. president to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.

People viewed Obama Nobel Prize skeptically in subsequent years, especially after the director of the Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad.

But the prize quickly loomed as a potential political liability — perhaps more burden than glory — for Mr. Obama. Republicans contended that he had won more for his star power and oratorical skills than for his actual achievements, and even some Democrats privately questioned whether he deserved it.

Republicans in Washington, reacting in disbelief, sought to portray Mr. Obama as unworthy. In an official statement, Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said, “The real question Americans are asking is, ‘What has President Obama actually accomplished?’ “

People viewed the Nobel committee’s embrace of Obama Noble Prize as a rejection of the unpopular tenure of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

But the committee, based in Norway, stressed that it made its decision based on Mr. Obama’s actual efforts toward nuclear disarmament as well as American engagement with the world relying more on diplomacy and dialogue.