Pres. Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

Even the White House was surprised.

Tevi Troy at NRO says it best:

I'm all for Americans winning international prizes, and especially the Nobel Peace Prize. I was also quite confident that Obama would win one as president, but I certainly didn't think he would win one so soon, with what Bloomberg calls "no concrete achievement to his credit." Similarly, Reuters describes Obama as "a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success," adding that the award "came as a big surprise . . . "

One of the good things about the Nobel, especially in science and literature, but also the Peace Prize, is that they are about achievement, not promise. Even when the awards have been extremely problematic — recall Yasser Arafat — the recipients have done something, for good or for ill.

It is strange that they would give this prize out to someone for what they HOPE to do, instead of what they have actually achieved. In fact, as Allahpundit at HotAir points out, in international relations and war Obama hasn't changed much from the Bush policies:

Regarding that alleged “new climate in international politics,” which aspects of Obama’s foreign policy thus far are any different from Bush’s? He’s increased troop levels (slightly) in Afghanistan, he’s kept up the drone attacks on Al Qaeda and the Taliban, he’s broken his promise to close Gitmo by January, he’s approved “rendition lite” and indefinite detention without trial for some terrorist suspects, and he’s let himself be jerked around in nuclear negotiations with Iran.

All that being said, it is a good thing for America that our President has won this. I truly hope that he lives up to his efforts and forges peace. It is, in the end, what we all want.