Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, holds a picture of US President Barack Obama, in Oslo, Norway, Friday, Oct. 9, 2009, after the announcement of Obama as winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. The citation for the award, in part says, 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. (AP Photo / Jon-Michael Josefsen, Scanpix) ** NORWAY OUT **
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama said Friday he was honored and humbled to win the Nobel Peace Prize and would accept it as a "call to action" to work with other nations to solve the problems of the 21st century.
A beaming Obama told reporters in the White House Rose Garden that he wasn't sure he had done enough to earn the award, or deserved to be in the company of the others who had won it before him.
But, he said, "I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century."
Obama will travel to Oslo, Norway, in December to accept the award.
Obama, 48, is the third U.S. president to win the prize while in office, after Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.
In its surprise choice, the Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the president's creation of a "new climate in international politics" and his work on nuclear disarmament.
"These challenges cannot be met by any one leader or any one nation," the president said. "That's why my administration wants to establish a new era of engagement in which all nations must take responsibility for the world we seek."
Obama acknowledged that, while accepting an award for peace, he was commander in chief of a country engaged in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We have to confront the world as we know it," he said. He also cited the global economic crisis.
"This award must be shared by everyone who strives for justice and dignity," he said.
He said that some of his goals, including that of a nuclear-weapons-free world, might not be accomplished in his lifetime.