Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize

President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Thursday, with acknowledgment of the controversy that surrounded his selection.

Obama, speaking in Oslo City Hall in the early afternoon, struck a humble posture, according to CNN, which reported his remarks.

"I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility," said Obama. "It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations -- that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

"And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage."

When the Nobel committee announced in October that Obama had won, some questioned why he deserved the award so early in his career, particularly as the leader of a nation at war.

Obama also acknowledged this aspect of the controversy.

"But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander in chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars," he said.

"I do not bring with me today a definitive solution to the problems of war," he continued. "What I do know is that meeting these challenges will require the same vision, hard work, and persistence of those men and women who acted so boldly decades ago. And it will require us to think in new ways about the notions of just war and the imperatives of a just peace."

Watch as Tom Brokaw and Tom Friedman share their reactions to his speech on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

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