Barack Obama, Time Magazine's Person of the Year
Yesterday, Time magazine unleashed a huge surprise upon us: it had selected Barack Obama as their 2008 Person of the Year. Well, perhaps it wasn’t that big of a surprise, but in my eyes, Obama deserved it. As the first black man elected President of the United States, we should all celebrate the historic nature of his victory. This historic feat coupled with the fact that Obama oversaw perhaps the most effective and well-run campaign operation in history is, to me, justification enough to award him Person of the Year.
Regardless of whether you consider it fair, during the election cycle President-elect Obama was always a topic in the news and appeared on a great many magazine covers – indeed, he was this year’s top newsmaker. Today, we should honor our President-elect, as he has made history.
What do you think?
Last 5 posts by Aaron Marks
- Onward and Upward: Building a Sustainable Majority - January 22nd, 2010
- Dear Young Voters: This Is What You Get When You Don't Vote - December 1st, 2009
- The Youth Vote and the 2009 Elections - November 6th, 2009
- The Best of the Post-2009 Election Spin - November 5th, 2009
- Introducing NextGenGOP Executive Director James Kane - October 20th, 2009
Your case for backing Time’s decision hinges on his incredible marketing strategy that landed him in the White House as the first black President of the United States. That being said, should “The Two Davids” be sharing the honor of Persons of the Year?
That’s an interesting way to look at it, but I really see three separate components to it:
1) The historic nature of his victory, i.e. the first minority ever elected as President.
2) His incredibly well run campaign – not just their marketing strategy, but across the board.
3) The fact that he was truly the top newsmaker of 2008 – regardless of whether this was due to media bias or not.