Who Needs the Olympics? Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize.

President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said, citing his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

The stunning choice made Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the Nobel Peace Prize and shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

Speculation had focused on Zimbabwe’s Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, a Colombian senator and a Chinese dissident, along with an Afghan woman’s rights activist.

It is now official…President Barack Obama has won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

On behalf of our shared hometown of Chicago, this is even better than being awarded the 2016 Summer Olympics game.

Hey, Rio de Janeiro….You can have the Olympic games, because America has just won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize after getting the final official nod from the boys and girls in Oslo.

In a surprising moment that will certainly increase his political capital domestically and abroad, the choice of President Obama was quite surprising because President Obama “took office less than two (2) weeks before the February 1, 2009 nomination deadline.”

Many global observers said that Obama’s name had been mentioned in speculation before the award, but many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president.

For all of us Nobel watchers out there, the predicted front-runner this year for the award was Colombian female senator Piedad Cordoba; a controversial Colombian senator who has obtained the release of 16 hostages held by Marxist guerrilla in the past during the conflict in Colombia.

Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba

According to the Oslo-based International Peace Research Institute. the other purported 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Finalists included Jordanian Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Islamic faith at Jordan University and Afghan physician and female human rights activist, Dr. Sima Samar.

(Personally…If given a vote, as an international human rights lawyer, I would have probably given my vote to Morgan Tsvangirai for his amazing leadership as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe).

Nonetheless, the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize goes to President Barack Hussein Obama of the United States of America.

Thus, on behalf of the rest of Chicago, many thanks for bringing the Nobel Peace Prize to the Windy City.

We will take that over the Olympics any day…

And on behalf of the rest of America, we are very proud of you, Mr. President…