American Morning
Obama receives Nobel Peace Prize
Oslo, Norway (CNN) - President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway on Thursday but acknowledged the questions surrounding the award.
Obama, along with first lady Michelle Obama, walked into Oslo City Hall at 1 p.m. to a trumpet fanfare and sustained applause.
"I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility," he said. "It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations - that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.
"And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage." Read more
Transcript of Obama's speech | Award is about 'highest aspirations' 
Al Gore reads a poem from his new book
Editor’s Note: Newsmakers roam the hallways of CNN every day. Sometimes, they make the news on the way out. This is the first installment of “The Halls,” American Morning’s new Web series.
He’s the face of the war on global warming – former Vice President Al Gore – and he joined us exclusively on CNN’s “American Morning” Wednesday to talk climate change and the summit taking place in Copenhagen.
Gore also has a new book out titled , “Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis.” It’s a follow-up to Gore’s New York Times bestselling book “An Inconvenient Truth,” which details the case for global warming. In “Our Choice,” Gore lays out the tools he says are needed to solve it.
The book also includes something unexpected: a poem, written by Gore.
On Friday, some blogs reported that Gore wrote the poem because his editor had removed a chapter on the impacts of climate change. We caught up with Mr. Gore in the hallways of CNN and asked him about the poem’s true origin, and even got a personal reading.
Google CEO on job creation
Who better than the man in charge of Google to come up with some new ideas. Google CEO Eric Schmidt was at the president's job summit last Thursday, and he says the jury is still out on his plan.
Our Kiran Chetry sat down with Schmidt and asked him where the jobs are and how the president should spend the remaining bailout cash.
CNNMoney: Need jobs now – White House
A Soldier's Story: Recruit is 'changing before our eyes'
Editor's Note: We're tracking three recruits from their final days as civilians through to deployment. It's an unprecedented look inside the life of a soldier. CNN's Jason Carroll reports for American Morning's special series, "A Soldier's Story." Watch part one and two, and tune in to American Morning on Wednesday for part three.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://am.blogs.cnn.com/files/2009/12/soldiers-mclain-mask-art.jpg caption="Army recruit Will McLain wears a gas mask for a drill on the dangers of a potential sarin gas attack."]
By Adam Reiss, CNN
Correspondent Jason Carroll and I returned to Fort Leonard Wood Monday to check back in on the recruit we are profiling for our ongoing series, "A Soldier’s Story." You may remember meeting Will McLain when we first met him in his hometown of Rosamond, California.
We spent the first couple days of basic combat training with him and now he is with his platoon in his third week of basic training. Will is changing before our eyes both physically and mentally. He has lost ten pounds and is really on his way to becoming a U.S. Army soldier.
He has been assigned a battle buddy, Demetrius Daniels, 23, from Detroit, Michigan. A battle buddy is an interesting concept. The Battle Buddy system is the policy of pairing Initial Entry Training (IET) Soldiers into teams for the following reasons:
– Mutual support and assistance
– Teaching teamwork
– Developing a sense of responsibility and accountability for fellow soldiers
– Improving safety during training
– Reducing the likelihood and opportunity for sexual harassment, misconduct, and suicide gestures or attempts.
Essentially you do not go anywhere without your battle buddy, and Will and Demetrius seem to get along just fine.
On Monday, all the soldiers went through a drill in the NBC chamber. It is where they drill the soldiers on the dangers of a potential sarin gas attack. For the purposes of the test, they use small plastic pellets that they cook on a grill in the chamber. The result is stinging throat and eyes.
Soldiers go in fifteen at a time and go through several exercises before they are ordered to remove their masks. Most of the soldiers begin jumping up and down and try to do anything to ease the pain. One soldier couldn’t make it and ran from the chamber. Will was successful and passed the test.
Please tune in next Wednesday for part three of A Soldier’s Story with Will McLain.
Al Gore's take on leaked climate change e-mails
A groundbreaking climate change summit is underway in Copenhagen, Denmark. President Obama will be there next week. In preparation, he spoke with former Vice President Al Gore who has been sounding the alarm about global warming for years.
The former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner is the author of a new book called, "Our Choice: A plan to solve the climate crisis." He joined us for an exclusive interview on American Morning Wednesday.
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