The Nobel Committee today awarded the 2009 prize for Peace to US President Barack Obama for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." After only nine months on the job, the President said he was "surprised and humbled," and acknowledged the honor as "an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations." Accepting the prize as "a call to action," Obama spoke of the many "transformative figures who have been honored by this prize, men and women who have inspired [him] and inspired the entire world by their courageous pursuit of peace." We get reaction from Washington and around the world.
In Shocker, Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Credits
Guests:
- Michael Scherer - national political reporter, Washington Post - @michaelscherer
- Ron Brownstein - Senior Editor, The Atlantic; political analyst, CNN; author - @RonBrownstein
- Peter Beinart - editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, author of The Beinart Notebook Substack, professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York - @PeterBeinart
- Robin Wright - contributing writer at The New Yorker magazine, and a joint fellow at U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson Center - @wrightr