President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize after nine months in public office.  The Associated Press reported from Oslo that President Obama received in a stunning decision the prestigious award for his initiatives encouraging the reduction of nuclear arms.  The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to President Obama also because of his easement of tensions in the Muslim World and replace unilateral American action with international diplomacy and cooperation.

The Associated Press reports that Nobel Peace Prize observers were shock with the selection of President Obama so early in his presidential term.  Barack H. Obama was elected President of the United States on January 20, 2009.  Obama election to the presidency was within two weeks of the last day to submit nominations for the internationally coveted award which was February 1, 2009.

The Obama administration was surprised as well as Robert Gibbs, President Obama press secretary awoke Barack Obama to the news at 6:00 a.m. EDT October 10, 2009.  The White House as of the associated press printing has made no immediate comment of President Barack Obama winning of the Nobel Peace Prize after such a short time in public office.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee recognized President Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize from Oslo for his call for peace and international cooperation and the initiatives to reduce the world stock of nuclear arms.  At one time the proliferation of nuclear arms was called the nuclear arms race.  President Barack Obama  encourages a reduction in nuclear arms with international cooperation and diplomacy.  President Obama also won the Nobel Peace Prize for easing conflict with the Muslim World.  The Norwegians also cited President Obama for the Nobel Peace prize because of his strengthening of the United States role to combat climate change.

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee said that rarely has a person "to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future." Some political critics are saying that the Nobel Prize Committee gave George W. Bush a "slap" for his largely unilateral military action even after the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.  The Norwegian Nobel Prize Committee praised President  Obama for the return of multilateral  diplomacy and institutions such as the United Nations as the center of the world stage.  The Nobel Prize Committee also praised President Obama for "a new climate in international politics."

The Associated Press reports that Archbishop Desmond TuTu said that by winning the Nobel Peace Prize shows that great things are expected of President Obama in the future.    Archbishop Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.  The Archbishop went on to say that "Its an award coming from the beginning of the first term of the office of a relatively young president that anticipates an even greater contribution toward making our world a safer place for all.  It is an award that speaks to the promise of President Obama's message of hope."

The Nobel Peace Prize committee received 205 nominations for the international coveted humanitarian award including a Chinese dissident, an Afghan women rights activists and an Zimbabwe prime minister.  President Obama is the third sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize.  President Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.  President Carter, although not a sitting president at the time, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his mediation in international conflicts.  Former Vice President Al Gore was honored by the Nobel Prize Committee for his campaign to raise awareness  of global warming.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation had this to say about President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize:  "We trust that this award will strengthen his commitment, as the leader of the most powerful nation in the world, to continue promoting peace and the eradication of poverty."