President Obama Named “Time’s” Person of the Year Again
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JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — From a shortlist that included a Pakistani teenager, the new leader of Egypt and a former president, Barack Obama has for the second time been named Time magazine’s person of the year.
In an essay on the decision, Michael Scherer, the magazine’s White House correspondent, points to “the Obama effect,” and how it can be quantified.
“It could be measured — in wars stopped and started; industries saved, restructured or reregulated; tax cuts extended; debt levels inflated; terrorists killed; the health-insurance system reimagined; and gay service members who could walk in uniform with their partners,” Scherer wrote.
The selection of Obama by the magazine was announced Wednesday on NBC’s Today show.
This is the second time the magazine has bestowed the honor on the president. Four years ago, as president-elect after his victory over John McCain in 2008, he was also given the honor.
Other contenders on the magazine’s short list this year included Malala Yousafzai, the teen Pakistani advocate for education for girls who was shot by the Taliban, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Last year, amid the Arab Spring, the Occupy Wall Street movement and other action around the world, “the protestor” was named Time’s person of the year. In 2010, it went to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
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