2008 Person of the Year: Obama named 2008 Person of the Year

Was there any doubt on who would be named TIME Person of the Year for 2008? In one of the most predictable 'Person of the Year' contests ever, Barack Obama was officially bestowed that title by Time Magazine. He was the clear choice of everyone and this result certainly was no surprise. It would have been a shock if Time gave the title to someone else. And that would have affected the magazine's credibility.

The magazine said Obama "has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago." That is actually the gist of what Barack Obama is and what he has become. He was almost a nobody
many months ago, and now, after enduring a grueling presidential campaign that saw him rise from almost obscurity and champion the call for change in America, he is the President-elect of the United States, and poised to effect the change that Americans, and the rest of world, is waiting for.

In one of the craziest elections in American history, he overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who are political institutions and the racial divide to become the 44th President of the United States.

Named as runners up to Barack Obama this year are Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson; French president Nicolas Sarkozy; Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin; and the Chinese film director, Zhang Yimou, who orchestrated the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Named to this year's list of 'People Who Mattered' were: Ingrid Betancourt, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, Robert Downey Jr., Tina Fey, Richard Fuld Jr., Robert Gates, Somaly Mam, John McCain, Stephenie Meyer, Robert Mugabe, Michael Phelps, Mikheil Saakashvili, The Somali Pirates, Dara Torres, Craig Venter and Rick Warren.