Nobel Peace 2009 to President Obama

(October 9, 2009) U.S. President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for giving the world "hope for a better future" and striving for nuclear disarmament, in a surprise award that drew criticism as well as praise. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". The first African-American to hold his country's highest office, Obama has called for disarmament and worked to restart the stalled Middle East peace process since taking office in January. "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," the committee said in a citation. While the decision won praise from statesmen like Nelson Mandela and Mikhail Gorbachev, both former Nobel laureates, it was