Obama named TIME’s 2008 Person of the Year

Cool, and pretty obvious. Still . . . cool.

Obama named TIME’s 2008 Person of the Year

First black U.S. president trumps Clinton, Palin, Paulson, Phelps and others

By Laura T. Coffey

TODAYShow.com contributor

updated 35 minutes ago

Could TIME magazine’s 2008 Person of the Year have been anyone other than President-elect Barack Obama?

Maybe not. But what the much-anticipated announcement lacks in the surprise department is offset by Obama’s already undeniable place in history.

The decision to name the United States’ first black president Person of the Year — announced exclusively on TODAY on Wednesday — followed weeks of discussion and debate among TIME editors and staff members. In a year when the economy imploded before our eyes, could U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson have made a provocative choice? How about Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin, two women who captivated the nation over much of the past year and who both, in their own ways, came so close to the presidency themselves?

Those people were considered, too, as were comedian Tina Fey, Olympian Michael Phelps, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, oil executive and renewable energy proponent T. Boone Pickens, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and Zhang Yimou, director of the Beijing Olympics’ opening and closing ceremonies.

But in the end, the 44th president of the United States proved to be the irresistible choice.

“I don’t think that Americans want hubris from their next president,” Obama told TIME for the Person of the Year issue, which appears online today and on newsstands Friday. “[But] I do think that we received a strong mandate for change. And I know that people have said, ‘Well, what does this change mean?’ … It means a government that is not ideologically driven. It means a government that is competent. It means a government, most importantly, that is focused day in, day out on the needs and struggles, the hopes and dreams of ordinary people.”

In the same interview, Obama addressed people’s fears over the state of the economy.

“If we make some good choices, I’m confident that we can limit some of the damage in 2009, and that in 2010 we can start seeing an upward trajectory on the economy,” he said.

A title, not an honor
The Person of the Year issue features 26 never-before-seen photographs of Obama that were taken when he was a student at Occidental College. Obama’s fellow student Lisa Black, who took the photos back in 1980, just discovered the negatives in her basement this year and stashed them in a safe-deposit box. The candid images show Obama posing, relaxing and holding a cigarette.

The magazine also includes profiles of the four contenders who came the closest to unseating Obama as Person of the Year: Paulson, Sarkozy, Palin and Zhang. (Sarkozy’s profile is written by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Zhang’s is written by Steven Spielberg.)

Tags: Barack Obama, TIME, 2008 Person of the Year, culture, Politics, race