Published: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009 / Updated: Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009 09:07 AM

Obama's Peace Prize

President was awarded prize more for potential than for actual achievements.

President Barack Obama no doubt is as surprised as the rest of the world that he is the recipient of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. He also may be viewing the prestigious honor as a decidedly mixed blessing politically.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee opted not to wake the president to tell him he had won. So, the task was left to staffers, who had heard the news from reporters, to pass the word to the president Friday morning.

Obama is the third sitting U.S. president to win the award. Preident Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 and President Woodrow Wilson won the prize in 1919.

Accepting the prize in a brief statement at the White House, Obama took an appropriately humble tack: “I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize.”

He added that the prize does not reflect his own accomplishments but rather a recognition of the goals he has set for the United States and the world. And members of the prize committee openly conceded as much.

“He got the prize because he has been able to change the international climate,” Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said. “Some people say, and I understand it, isn't it premature? Too early? Well, I'd say then that it could be too late to respond three years from now. It is now that we have the opportunity to respond — all of us.”

Critics, however, say the selection was wrongheaded, asserting that Obama has yet to prove himself. U.S. Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele said Obama won the prize because of his “star power.”

“The real question Americans are asking is, what has President Obama actually accomplished?” Steele said.

Obama is vulnerable to those accusations. He has been in office less than 11 months and that hasn't been much time to engage in major peace initiatives or achieve diplomatic breakthroughs, particularly with his challenging domestic priorities. Obama has some worthy objectives on his agenda, but he hasn't yet fulfilled many of those goals.

And for a Peace Prize recipient, Obama finds himself in the position of managing two wars and considering the escalation of one of them. Obama also faces the daunting chore of turning around the U.S. economy. Why did the Nobel committee choose someone whose political future is so tenuous? Surely, out of the 205 people nominated for this year's prize, one could boast more tangible achievements in pursuing peace than Obama.

It is apparent, however, that this award is designed as much to give momentum to the causes Obama has espoused as to reward him for his accomplishments. Obama is being rewarded for emphasizing diplomacy, working hand in hand with America's allies, trying to restart stalled Mideast peace talks, promoting nuclear disarmament and acknowledging the need to address global warming.

Obama hasn't earned this prize because of what he has done but because of what he might do. While his young presidency will present many challenges ahead, it also will offer opportunities to fulfill the early optimism that he can be an effective champion of peace.

If he perseveres and succeeds in the lofty goals he has set for himself, we may look back and reflect on the foresight of the Peace Prize committee.