David Axelrod appeared on Morning Joe this morning to say President Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize is an affirmation of the causes he's championing: nuclear nonproliferation, climate change and building global alliances.

Axelrod told the MSNBC morning show crew that liberals, conservatives and everyone in between "ought to be able to agree on the need to reduce the threats to humanity and the threats to our country and that's what the president's working on."

"The goal is to move America forward and bring a level of peace, progress and understanding to the world," he said.

Axelrod said it was an honor and offered a bit of prebuttal to arguments already emerging among conservatives: "It's nothing that anyone expected, it's certainly nothing the president sought."

He said Obama is "less interested in individual honors ... than he is in advancing the causes that were cited by the Nobel Committee."

Asked if the prize sets too high expectations for the new president, Axlerod said his boss always stays focused on "the business at hand."