For the second time in four years, President Barack Obama is Time’s selection for “Person of the Year.”
The president won the title over runners-up Malala Yousafzai, Tim Cook, Mohamed Morsi, and Fabiola Gianotti. Here’s how Time explained their 2012 choice:
“Obama is the first Democratic President since FDR to win more than 50% of the vote in consecutive elections and the first President since 1940 to win re-election with an unemployment rate north of 7.5%. He has stitched together a winning coalition and perhaps a governing one as well. His presidency spells the end of the Reagan realignment that had defined American politics for 30 years. We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America.”
The last time Obama won the title, it was as president-elect in 2008. The annual award goes to the person (or group of people, occasionally) who, for good or bad, the magazine editors deem as the most influential on news and culture that year. Last year, “the protester” won. Time’s Rick Stengel revealed this year’s selection on NBC’s “Today” show this morning.
