Time's "Person of the Year": Obama, again
Four years after he first won the award as president-elect in 2008, President Obama has again been named Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2012.
Time's short list included Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was the target of an assassin for advocating girls' education.
Time readers, in a separate poll, selected North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the 2012 Person of the Year. The magazine's official Person of the Year is decided by editors, not readers.
Time Editor Rick Stengel, announcing the selection on NBC this morning, explained, "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."
Obama, in an interview with the magazine, said his reelection "may have been more satisfying a win than 2008."
He explained, "We've gone through a very difficult time. The American people have rightly been frustrated at the pace of change, and the economy is still struggling, and this president we elected is imperfect, and yet, despite all that, this is who we want to be."
"That's a good thing," added the President.
Time's winner last year was "The Protester," a nod to the dissenters of the Arab Spring and domestic protest movements of Occupy Wall Street that captured the national attention.
Previous Person of the Year selections include U2 frontman and philanthropist Bono, former President George W. Bush, and Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg.