Man of the Year

2008 was a pretty big year, no doubt about that. War, economic crisis, elections, Olympics, Batman...the list goes on and on. Comes now the crucial question: in this big, big year, who was the biggest man (or person, I suppose) of them all?

Yes, it's time to consider who should be picked as Time's "Man of the Year." Please bear in mind, that doesn't mean the best person in the world this year. It always makes me a little mad when people look at last year's choice, Vladimir Putin, and huff, "Well, I always knew those Time editors were nothing but a bunch of commies!"

Well, maybe they are a bunch of commies. But they didn't pick Vlad because they liked the guy. They picked him because he was the most important man of the year. He had the biggest impact. He made the most news. He was the center of conversation.

Who should they pick this year? Who will they pick? For the first time in a while, the answer to both those questions is obvious: President-elect Barack Obama.

"But he hasn't even done anything yet!" I can already hear people wailing (I have very sharp ears). True, he hasn't done anything as president. But his presidential campaign alone was more than enough to earn him a spot. Consider a few arguments in his favor:

1) The history-making moment of an African-American being elected president
2) The new, decentralized campaign style he pioneered, powered by the internet, driven by volunteers and small donors
3) The fact that he came out of almost nowhere to knock off one of the most established figures in the Democratic party
4) The fact that he might just have restored what Arthur Schlesinger called "the vital center" in American politics
5) His creation of a new, powerful alliance of the young, upper-class whites, and minorities; it's the McGovern coalition come to fruition
6) The history-making moment of Joe Biden being elected vice-president.

Of course Time is going to recognize these achievements. Then, of course, there's the fact that they almost always pick the winner of the presidential election to be their Man of the Year. Let's take a look:

2004: George W. Bush
2000: George W. Bush
1996: David Ho (An exception, I suppose)
1992: Bill Clinton

You can debate some of those. In fact, you probably should debate the selection of George W. Bush in 2000. Now there was someone who hadn't done anything that year aside from run a rather conventional presidential campaign.

But love Barack or hate Barack, he's been the biggest newsmaker by far this year. He deserves to be picked as MAN OF THE YEAR. Sorry, PERSON OF THE YEAR. Or, considering that they once picked a computer, CONCEPT OF THE YEAR.