He was the new, not-a-war-fabricating-criminal American president. That’s it. It shouldn’t be enough imho, but nobody claimed that what I think matters here. Lots of people had renewed hope and optimism, including the Swedish governing body over the Nobel Prizes, based on his not being Bush. Eight years later, that hope and optimism didn’t pay out the way people anticipated, so I personally would suggest that the committee spoke too soon on the topic. But I do remember the peace I felt with that hope and optimism, so there’s that, I suppose. And watching the proto-MAGAs in my office lose their mind at the actions of an independent, private, Swedish organization’s actions as though they deserved a say in the matter was entertaining.