Less than a year into office, the Us President Barak Obama won the nobel peace prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen internation diplomacy and cooperation between peoples".
Since his name was nowhere in the list of probables, the decision of the norwegian Nobel Committee in October 2009 to award the Prize to Obama came as a surprise to many around the world while it was lauded as a good choice. Obama is seen as having changed the direction of U.S. foreign policy, reversing many of his predecessor's unilateral policies and emphasizing the need for diplomacy, cooperation and mutual respect.
The 48-year old leader said he was humbled by the distinction. The White House annouced he will donate the entire $1.4 million prize to charity. Obama is the fourth US President to win the most coveted award.
Obama Era Begins
Settingoff a wave of good feeling the world over, Barak Hussein Obaama became the 44th president of the United States in January 2009. The 47-year-old first-term Democratic senator from Lllinois had shattered more than 200 years of history by winning the presidential ecetion two months before as the first African-American.
He defeated the republican Senator John McCain, a former prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the presidency. Obama's running mate Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr became the Vice president by defeating Gonernor Sarah Palin of Aliaska. Obama also led his party in a decisive sweep of Congress, putting Democrats in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Obama's elaction amounted to a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies.
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