“This is not how I expected to wake up this morning,” the president said, after hearing that the Norwegian Nobel Committee had awarded him with the prestigious Nobel Prize for Peace. “I am both surprised and deeply humbled,” he said, and “do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.”

“To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who’ve been honored by this prize — men and women who’ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace,” he said.

There have been detractors in the United States and overseas for the Nobel Committee’s decision. After only nine months in office, the president’s vision of eliminating nuclear weapons and his renewed emphasis on global cooperation and dialogue to resolve challenges such as climate change and pandemic disease have not yet accomplished their goals. Obama himself said today that some of his policy goals may not be completed during his administration, and the elimination of nuclear weapons “may not be completed in my lifetime.”

But when Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland announced the decision in Oslo, he compared President Obama to other peace prize winners such as former West Berlin mayor Willy Brandt and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose own reform efforts had not been achieved when they received the prize.

“The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world,” Jagland said. “And who has done more than Barack Obama?”

The president said the prize has been used to “give momentum” to causes, and he said he sees the award, which will be given in Oslo December 10, as “a call to action” for the United States and all nations to “confront the common challenges of the 21st century.”

What do you think about this surprise announcement? Do you think this will help or inadvertently hurt President Obama as he tries to advance his policy goals?