The year 2009 looks like a year of raining achievements for Barack Obama. After getting the democrats nomination for US Presidency, by beating Hillary Clinton in a close combat, he became the first Afro American US president. He got the attention just after joining the office, for his Tax Policies and Bailout packages for the Investment banks, in the face of global recession. Then he came up with the healthcare policy for common man and received a lot of praise worldwide. And now in the biggest milestone of his life, getting the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples” as declared by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. It also cites his outreach to the Muslim world and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation. The award was announced on October 9, 2009.

The stunning choice of the Nobel committee made Obama the third sitting US president, sworn in eight and half months back in January, 2009, to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The result also shocked Nobel observers because Obama took office less than two weeks before the Feb. 1 nomination deadline. And many Nobel watchers believed it was too early to award the president. But the committee had got its own point of view regarded Obama as the rare person who has captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future. Committee also attached special importance to Obama’s vision of, and work for, a world without nuclear weapons.

In US presidents, apart from Obama Theodore Roosevelt won the award in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919. Former President Jimmy Carter won the award in 2002, while former Vice President Al Gore shared the 2007 prize with the UN panel on climate change. The Nobel committee received a record 205 nominations for this year’s Nobel peace prize.