what were they smoking in oslo? >> i feel sorry for president obama. because that semifunny saturday night live routine now has a pufr punctuation mark where it's a thaw session for president obama in the fact that he hasn't had any major accomplishments on the world stage. so i feel bad for him. it will be anal betrbetros arous neck. for him, they studied him and his psychology and flattering will get you everywhere. >> that's an interesting point. is this os llo committee, a prey far left group, they once gave the peace prize to yachter arafat, for heaven's sake. are they trying to neutralize him? don't go into the surge in afghanistan. don't put the heat on iran, that kind of thing s this a calculation by these norwegian socialists? >> well, that's exactly what they are. i think it's all a calculation just as the way that mainstream press and the united states has treated him just as the international press has treated him. you know, the you have the president of the czech republic. you had sarkozy mock the president. and now you have "saturday nigh

. >>> speaking of live, we want to go to oslo, norway if we can. we ave just gotten word that the nobel peace prize has been awarded to none other than president obama. the awards still being handed out right now. but a bit of an upset there from some of the favorites we had mentioned earlier. the news just in. apparently, president barack obama the oner of this year's nobel peace prize. >> we'll have much more on that coming up throughout the morning. >>> the vaccine for the swine flu will be given out today in two local counties. in prince george's county, students at dodge elementary will be among the first to get the vaccine. in montgomery county, a clinic will take place at the dennis avenue center beginning at 9:00 this morning. healthy children from two to 18, healthy adults up to age 18 who take care of infants younger than sixmonths and healthy health care workers are the priority at this particular clinic. click on the flu tracker to see the areas hardest hit by the virus. >>> there is more backlash over the d.c. school teacher layoff. th

>> somebody said that oslo has reseemed what copenhagen lost for obama. you've got another committee sending a statement to the world, hey, he's ok after wall. but, yeah, it is kind of odd that only after nine months or so he's getting the nobel peace prize. my personal vote would have gone to tiananmen square. it's the 20th anniversary and there's a lot of disappointment that didn't happen. as far as his left is concerned, this bowlsters the negative concern that he's getting from the right. because the right is hammering obama. the left has been reluctant to want to attack him in public. but you know what turning point happened last week, chris, on "saturday night live" when fred armson not lampooned obama, but this notion that he hasn't done a thing. that was a lampooning of the feelings that a lot of people on the left have. >> the people we saw softening in the nbc news "wall street journal" poll, this helps him with that. and the irony is that he was nominated two weeks after he took office. that's when the nominations closed for the nobel peace pri

just listen to the gasps when the chairman of the nobel peace prize committee made the announcement in oslo. don't worry you'll get it even though he's speaking norwegian. >> good morning. [ speaking in native language ] >> even though nominations for this year's award closed on february 1st, only days after president obama took office, the nobel committee claims its decision was based largely on achievement, not expectations. >> we have -- we have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. we are awarding obama for what he has done the preceding year. and we do hope that it can contribute a little bit to enhance what he is trying to do. >> mr. obama is in the middle of a major decision as you know on -- and we'll probably end up increasing troop levels in afghanistan. how does the committee feel about that? >> at this time, the conflict in afghanistan concerns us all and we do hope that the improvement of the international climate and the emphasis on the negotiations could help result that i do not claim that it must help or will help, but we could hope that this could help to

president will attend that conference on climate change in copenhagen, at the same time, because the oslo, norway, on december 10th to accept the nobel peace prize. >> no small challenges right there. from the white house, mike, thank you for that this morning. >>> for the latest now on the ground in afghanistan i am joined by nbc's jim miklaszewski in kabul. what can you tell us about the situation there? >> reporter: well, dan, it's been a relatively quiet 24-hour period, except in the south in the hellman province where marines are locked in intensive fighting, with the taliban, trying to root out of their stronghold there. over the past 24 hours only one service member killed. american service member. in all of that, afghanistan, and it is the marine believed to have been killed in the fighting down there, and the objective there is twofold. first of all, to drive the taliban out of their stronghold and bring some kind of stability to that region. but also to interrupt the drug trafficking coming out of this province, which quite frankly, is the single -- the single lone spot in the e

alisyn: i thought it was just that sitting committee in oslo. who is it? brian: five-member committee elected by the norwegian parliament. sweden, norway, united under the same crown at the time of nobel's death. so alfred nobel, that's his prize so

understands he didn't earn this prize and therefore the notion that this white house has said he would go to oslo to accept the prize would add to the farce. but i do think that he could send a real signal here. i think what he ought to do, frankly, is send the mother of a fallen american soldier to accept the prize on behalf of the u.s. military. frankly, to send the message to remind the nobel committee that each one of them sleeps soundly at night because the u.s. armed forces, because the u.s. military is the greatest peacekeeping force in the world today. so he ought to take an opportunity to send that kind of message. >> do you agree with the widespread analysis that the nobel committee was sending a repudiation of the bush/cheney policies? >> well, i think what the committee believes is that th'd like to different in a world in which america is not dominant and i think if you look at the language of the citation, you can see that they talk about, you know, president obama ruling in a way that makes sense to the majority of the people of the world. you know, americans don't elect a presiden

also, the announcement in oslo, norway. the audience actually gasped. listen to this. >> barack obama for extraordinary results -- >> wow! >> a few comments later, the chairman of the norwegian nobel prize committee repeated in it english. >> the norwegian nobel committee has decide that had 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. >> we've also heard from the president today. mr. obama admits he did not exactly expect to wake up this morning a nobel peace prize winner. there he is at the white house. he said he is not sure he deserves to be in the company of past winners who have had so much impact on the world, but he will step award in oslo in december and view it as a call to action to people everywhere. >> i am both surprised and deeply humbled by the decision of the nobel committee. let me be clear. i do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments. but rather as an after playing of american leadership on

it's given out in oslo, on december 10th. diane? >> okay, thanks to you, yunji. >>> let's bring in george stephanopoulos, chief washington correspondent, host of "this week." george, we heard the call. it came to the president a little before 6:00 a.m. who made it? and what was his reaction? >> it was made by robert gibbs, the white house press secretary. a lot more fun to make that call than the one that came last week from copenhagen, to say the olympics weren't going to chicago. the president was surprised. but as yunji said, humbled by the honor. this really did catch them blindside, the white house. i talked to two key white house aides who got the word earlier this morning. both thought they were being punk'd. it's not april 1st is it? there will likely be a paper statement from the president, emphasizing how much work there is going forward. but on a serious note, white house aides do believe this will strengthen the president's hand, both at home and abroad. >> and i want to ask about that. a lot of key decisions being made

guest: on december 10, the anniversary of the death of alfred nobel, the president will travel to oslo's ornate city hall and receive the award, a certificate, and he will receive a medal and make a speech. you have now set up eight situation. is a three-part play. the first is what obama has been doing. it is now recognized. the presentation the tent will be an opportunity for him to genuinely talk about not only america's commitment to multilateralism, but what he now expect our european partners and allies and other allies across the globe. there has been demanding of ways between international community's and americans, and on december 10, he will lay down the expectations about a relationship. i predict an edgy presentation on his part. host: you say that this move has mended our standing in the world. guest: my students often ask me, what is the international community? i think we find here is that the nobel committee sees itself as a part of the international community and wants to lead and nudge and create momentum to solidify relationships, which are mending. host: we talked abo