It’s Sunday and I’m watching football. A half-gallon of orange juice adorns the table next to me, accompanied handsomely by a half-eaten bag of Fritos. All is well in my self-contained world until breaking news interrupts my stupor. Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize; I shrug my shoulders and change the channel.

Obama winning the Nobel prize. Was I happy about it? Certainly. As an Obama supporter and a Democrat it would be crazy not to be delighted with the news and yet I couldn’t help but wonder if the award was given too lightly, perhaps prematurely.

There is no question that Obama’s historical election to the White House was an important advancement in the history of our country’s politics. However, in his brief term in office, the award seems to have been given flippantly, or almost with the expectation of something great to come. The fact remains that in Obama’s brief time as President he has not done enough to merit this award.

The Nobel prize committee’s stated reason for giving the award was “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”  The key word in this statement seems to be “efforts.” Obama has been putting forth an effort to strengthen international cooperation, but it seems too soon in these negotiations to label him a success and bestow upon him so prestigious an award.

The awarding of this honor to Obama seems to have come prematurely in his tenure. He has only served in office for nine months and, while he has advocated peaceful negotiations previously spurned by the Bush administration, the results of these negotiations have yet to come to any meaningful fruition.

As a Democrat, I am naturally happy for the president I supported and continue to support him. But, personal opinion of Obama and the job he is doing should have little to do with the facts at hand.

Obama is too young to have received this award. The Nobel Peace prize has a historic tradition of recognizing tremendous leaders who have accomplished great things. While one could contend that Obama is a good leader, it is simply too early to assess what he has been able to accomplish, or what he will accomplish in the future. Youth is not incompatible with achievement; but, Obama simply has not had the time to follow his diplomatic endeavors to fruition.

Obama, as a global symbol of peace and leadership, has made strides toward genuine progress in improving our nation’s image abroad. One need only look at the staggering attendances at his rallies in Europe to see this.

But his legacy is still a young one. He has much to do, many of key issues to address, a health care bill to pass and several years of leadership ahead of him before he can be said to deserve the award he has just received.

As a believer in Obama and what it is he has set out to do, I think he can still earn this award, even if he may have received it too early in his young political career. All he can do now is make believers of all the skeptics, prove further in his policy and in his actions that he was the man to receive this award, and that the committee’s confidence in him was not misplaced.