It was a surprise to most people, including President Obama, to learn that he had won the Nobel Peace Price today. Many will say, "But he hasn't done anything yet!"

The president is very popular around the world, and was even before being elected. Nothing is in writing yet, but Iran is showing signs of softening its position on nuclear development; North Korea wants to be invited to the ball; and George Mitchell is trying to restart peace talks in the Middle East. President Obama has boldly outlined his vision of a world free from the horror of nuclear weapons.

Conservatives and right-wingers criticize Mr. Obama's foreign policy (among other things). Dick Cheney, for one, thinks the president is dangerously naïve and his desire to sit down and talk with America's enemies invites more terrorist attacks.

But the Nobel Committee holds the opposite view, writing: "Obama has as president created a new climate in international politics.... Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play."

The head of the committee, Mr. Thorbjorn Jagland, went on to say, "The question we have to ask is who has done the most in the previous year to enhance peace in the world....And who has done more than Barack Obama?"

He noted that in 1971 the West German Chancellor Willy Brandt won the prize for initiating a reconciliation with communist eastern Europe, dubbed "Ostpolitik." He was awarded the prize at the beginning of the process that resulted in the fall of the Berlin Wall.

"The same thing is true of the prize to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, for launching perestroika. One can say that Barack Obama is trying to change the world, just as those two personalities changed Europe.....We have to get the world on the right track again."

Mr. Jagland concluded, without naming any names, "Look at the level of confrontation we had just a few years ago. Now we get a man who is not only willing but probably able to open dialogue and strengthen international institutions."

And that is the point. In the last year, nobody has used the power of his office, his goodwill, and yes, his speeches, more to promote peace than President Obama.