When I heard the news as the radio came on at 6AM yesterday on Morning Edition my first thought was that it's way premature.

I still think that.

As to why he got the prize, I tend to agree with both Pat Buchanan, who said it was the committee's way of sticking it to Bush and the NYTimes editorial that said "Americans elected Mr. Obama because they wanted him to restore American values and leadership and because they believed he could. The Nobel Prize, and the broad endorsement that followed, show how many people around the world want the same thing."