Obama? Nobel Prize? huh? eh?

The Nobel peace prize is one of five awarded annually since 1901 by the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden. The other four prizes are for physiology or medicine, physics, chemistry and literature. Starting in 1969, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel also has been awarded.

While the other prizes are awarded by committees based in Sweden, the peace prize is determined by a five-member panel appointed by the Norwegian parliament.

The Nobel recipient receives a prize of 10 million Swedish crowns, or about $1.4 million.

Read this last night on CNN on the Nobel contenders awaiting the peace prize decision

And the news broke out today morning the most revered honor goes to the world leader!

The Wikipedia entry says: The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U.S. President Barack Obama "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples


Read this analysis on why Obama's Nobel honors promise, not action
The prize seems to be more for Obama's promise than for his performance. The Nobel committee cited as his key accomplishment "a new climate in international politics." The president has become "the world's leading spokesman" for its agenda, the committee said.

NY Times reported "In Surprise, Nobel Peace Prize to Obama for Diplomacy"

Here is the actual transcript from The Norwegian Nobel 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."

Should he accept the award? What has he accomplished? Is this a mockery of the process?

While awarding Obama the Nobel Prize might seem premature, the committee was responding to a genuine change that Obama has brought about. The prize seems to be more for Obama's promise than for his performance.

President Obama Interview

The President sits down with Jay and talks about politics, the economy and adjusting to his new lifestyle.

Obama's Inaugural Address

"We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America."

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."


Read the full text on TIME.

Yes We Can

An awesome victory speech by "Mr. President"

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer." - Barack Obama

Gov. Palin and Senator Clinton

The incomparable Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live.

Stunning Speech

US Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama addressed a crowd of more than 200,000 people in Berlin, Germany today. The stunning speech replete with references to history and the future ahead is worth listening.



Here is an excerpt from his speech.
"History has led us to a new crossroad, with new promise and new peril. When you, the German people, tore down that wall – a wall that divided East and West; freedom and tyranny; fear and hope – walls came tumbling down around the world. From Kiev to Cape Town, prison camps were closed, and the doors of democracy were opened. Markets opened too, and the spread of information and technology reduced barriers to opportunity and prosperity. While the 20th century taught us that we share a common destiny, the 21st has revealed a world more intertwined than at any time in human history...

...Yes, there have been differences between America and Europe. No doubt, there will be differences in the future. But the burdens of global citizenship continue to bind us together. A change of leadership in Washington will not lift this burden. In this new century, Americans and Europeans alike will be required to do more – not less. Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity."

Click here to read the entire speech

Change - We Can Believe In

These words have resonated across the entire nation creating the 'audacity of hope'. He comes from several continents, races, cultures, and communities. He is the man running for president of the United State of America. Yes, I am talking about Barack Obama. Read more about him here.

I think people like Barack Obama, Bill Clinton are born leaders and natural crowd pullers. His speech - 'A more Perfect Union' in Philadelphia on race and politics was stunning. The charismatic Senator is one of most inspiring public leader in America and a wonderful and talented orator. He is compelling when talking about issues and honest in a unique way. Read about his agenda. Sen. Obama is indeed everywhere.

Hear this funny song on Youtube.


Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. The total number of delegates needed to secure the nomination is 2,118. Right now, Obama has the support of at least 2,159 delegates.

This was his message yest. in St. Paul, Minnesota

"Sixteen months have passed since we first stood together on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Thousands of miles have been traveled. Millions of voices have been heard. And because of what you said - because you decided that change must come to Washington; because you believed that this year must be different than all the rest; because you chose to listen not to your doubts or your fears but to your greatest hopes and highest aspirations, tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another - a journey that will bring a new and better day to America. Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for President of the United States."

The last sentence was received with thunderous applause and rightly deserved.

"This is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past and bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

It's going to take hard work, but thanks to you and millions of other donors and volunteers, no one has ever been more prepared for such a challenge.

Thank you for everything you've done to get us here. Let's keep making history."

I like the slogan on his website where he says: "I am asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington... I'm asking you to believe in yours"

Our time is now.