PRESIDENT OBAMA WON THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE!

In a decision that stunned the nation and the world, President Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace prize Friday for his attempts to win peace in the Middle East and stem nuclear proliferation.
Obama woke up just before 6 a.m. to learn that he had been awarded the prestigious award for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," according to the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

He's the third sitting president to win the award. Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919. The committee awarded President Jimmy Carter the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his mediation in international conflicts.

"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," said Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Committee.

Jagland praised Obama for his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The award comes less than a year after he took office and while the U.S. is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The committee cited Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.

The stunning decision took the White House off guard.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod said he assumed the President would go to Oslo to accept the honor.

"This is all news to us, so I don't know what we're going to do with regards to that," Axelrod said. "I would assume so, but I don't know."

Obama "was humbled to be selected by the committee," the White House spokesman said.

The president will hold a press conference in the White House Rose Garden at 10:30 a.m. Friday, a spokesman said.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who won the prize in 1984, said shows great things are expected from Obama.

"It's an award coming near the beginning of the first term of office of a relatively young president that anticipates an even greater contribution towards making our world a safer place for all," Tutu said. "It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope."

"This is probably an encouragement for him to act. Let's see if he perseveres," said former Polish President Lech Walesa, winner of the 1983 Nobel Peace Prize. "Let's give him time to act," Walesa said.

Obama, America's first African-American president, had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

Until moments before the announcement, speculation had focused on a wide variety of candidates: Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai; a Colombian senator; a Chinese dissident, and an Afghan woman's rights activist, among others.

The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year's prize, though it was not immediately apparent who nominated Obama.

The award appeared to be a slap at former President Bush, whose unilateral invasion of Iraq was harshly criticized by the committee at the time.

"The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world," Jagland said. "And who has done more than Barack Obama?....We have to get the world on the right track again."

In July talks in Moscow, Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to attempt to limit nuclear warheads and delivery systems.

Although action on the reductions appears limited, UN nuclear watchdog and peace prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei praised Obama's efforts.

"In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself," ElBaradei said. "He has shown an unshakable commitment to diplomacy, mutual respect and dialogue as the best means of resolving conflicts."

Obama also has attempted to restart stalled talks between the Israelis and Palestinians and attempted to apply pressure to halt settlement construction in Palestinian territory.

Reaction to his award was muted in the Islamic world.

"This prize has tripled Obama's responsibilities, and we can hope that he will try to prove through his actions that he deserved this honor," said radical Islamic leader Hanif Jalandhri in Pakistan. "But I do hope that Obama will make efforts to work for peace, and he will try to scrap the policies of Bush who put the world peace in danger."

In the Kenyan city of Kisumu, the home province of Obama's father, local radio shows interrupted broadcasting to have live phone-ins so callers could congratulate Obama on his win.

"When I heard it on the radio I said Hallelujah!" hollered James Andaro, 65. "It's God's blessing. This win is for Africa."

In his 1895 will, Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, stipulated that the peace prize should go "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses."