I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that the reasons for nomination and for prize award don't need to be the same (for instance several people might nominate a candidate for different reasons, and if you check the database, you'll see that many past nominations did not even include a motivation). The February deadline point is really moot as the decision is actually made in October, and that's what matters.I would say that in the spirit of the Peace prize, the Cairo speech can be considered up there with the work to further fraternity among nations.Interestingly, even if Obame did nothing, he would probably still be eligible for the peace prize simply for discontinuing the previous administration policies in terms of diplomacy (remember that Bush tried to send Bolton as an ambassador to th UN) and cooperation between peoples (my argument above).