I have to say that I was surprised by this announcement, maybe partially because I'm out of the country so I'm way behind on everything (note that I just learned about this today), but after listening to the committee's reasoning as to why Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize I feel really good about it. It's pretty cool for the President of our nation to be lauded for "creating a new international climate," "giving the people [of the world] hope for a better future" and that he is leading our country "on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." Our President is a man who realizes that just because our country is huge and has a lot of wealth and economic power, that doesn't mean that we can do whatever we want. In fact, because of these things we have a responsibility to play an important and leading role in helping promote peace and equality in the world instead of just using our military power to make others bend to our will. He is not just the leader of our nation, but also a prominent leader in the world.
"For 108 years the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate the international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman." That's pretty cool.
