A summary by The Week writers,

The struggles Obama is working to resolve—nuclear disarmament, nuclear proliferation, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—have no solution yet. In fact, they might never be resolved, because “they are part of a world in constant evolution.” Obama’s genius is that he understands this. Rather than attacking each world crisis “according to the atrocious doctrine of pre-emption,” Obama seeks dialogue and negotiation. Although he is leader of a superpower, he recognizes that other countries have valuable perspectives of their own. Where Bush tried to impose America’s vision, Obama seeks a common vision. “Is not that a fundamental shift in foreign relations?”

And,

The Noble Peace Prize could turn out to be more of an albatross for Obama than a blessing, if for no other reason than that it sets expectations so high. “Perhaps the decision tells us more about the world we live in” than it does about Obama—“a world where hope is the only thing that many people have left to cling on to.”

Christopher Hitchens noted that Obama’s was the Nobel committee’s first “virtual” award in the Newsweek,

We thus find ourselves in a rather peculiar universe where good intentions are rewarded before they have undergone the strenuous metamorphosis of being translated into good deeds, or hard facts.