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'Surprised, humbled' Obama accepts Nobel Peace Prize

In a stunning decision that caused worldwide dropping of jaws, the Swedish Nobel Committee on Friday awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama, citing his work in nuclear weapons elimination and international diplomacy.

The award invited universal astonishment and some amount of derision because it appeared based more on hope and expectation than lasting achievement or accomplishment typical for nominees. Critics pointed out that Nobel Committee's deadline for nominations was February 1, just 11 days after Obama's inauguration.

But the Nobel committee statement that accompanied the award announcement read ''Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics,'' although it evidently took into account his work in the months since he took office and perhaps even his exertions as senator and presidential candidate.

''Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position... 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,'' the committee gushed in the statement.

Obama himself put the award in perspective while admitting he was both surprised and humbled by it. He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of so many great transformative figures of peace .

''I do not view it as recognition of my own accomplishment, rather as an affirmation of American leadership of all nations,'' Obama said in brief media appearance in the White House Rose Garden, seeking to deflect some of the criticism for what many feel is a award he is yet to earn and has come too early.