Nobel prize for only a nice hope is absurd especially if there have been nice actions from others. Obama has talked a lot  about his hopes but has spent quite a time without really doing anything concrete to fulfil those hopes. How far his domestic compulsions allow him to go in creating goodwill in the world is not yet known as he hasn't moved his first step. So perhaps the nobel committee would need one more year to really see what he is up to.

It was too early to award Obama for his actions as the president of the US, and too naive to award him for his hopes. 

Obama's only action that would amount to some sort contribution towards peacemaking is the overthrowing of Bush's party in the last elections.

But that said, the fact that a minority non-white person with multicultural background has become the president of the US and a world leader this year does mean that somebody should be awarded for this change. Who? - the american people, the media, the internet, or Mr. Bush, or Obama himself??