A common misconception, perhaps the most common concerning the Nobel Peace Prize is that it is given to honour an accomplishment or participation in an event occurred in its entirety and been successful. And it is. But it is also given to encourage people who are doing good things for the world to keep doing them, such as when Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the NPP in 1990.
With regard to why, specifically, Obama was awarded the prize, the prize committee said this:
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The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations.
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Given this, it is probable that the motivations for the prize committee in giving the award to Obama was encouragement for him to continue with his plans for global nuclear disarmament and not allow them to get lost amid the other problems he's working on right now or otherwise lose interest when the world proves once again that it is ruled and inhabited by bastards.