"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons."

I'm happy for him, and I'm glad to be rid of Bush too, but isn't that a little premature ?

Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Gorbachev made sense at the time, but plenty of these nobel prizes seem to be very politically motivated and not because of actual achievement.

For instance, Al Gore won the prize, as did Yassar Arafat.