Well it’s official Time Magazine has chosen president-elect Barack Obama as it’s 2008 Person of the Year. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed, not because I don’t think he deserves it but rather because I believe that it was a various obvious choice. I believe that the person of the year should be someone that came out of nowhere and did something great in the year, really changed things and made that year significant. Obama certainly had a significant role in 2008 and accomplished many things but it was the safe obvious choice for the magazine to make.

Since Time choose you and me as the Person of the Year in 2006 I believe that they are not trying as hard as they once did to name a person of the year. This is the magazine that chose Hitler and Stalin as Men of the Year. Stop going with the obvious choice or abstract choices but pick someone who has had a unique influence in that year. I am not criticizing the pick of Obama but rather the idea that absolutely no thought went into it this year.

With that in mind I will now reveal my pick for my Person of the Year, and yes this person did make Time’s short list of contenders:

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

Governor Palin exploded onto the political and national stage at the end of August and since then has grown into an icon. Not many people rise to the top that fast. Within days of her selection the press and society became obsessed with her every move. People were called eyeglass stores wanting her glasses, her hair style became popular, a doll was made in her likeness, her sayings became popular, and the person playing her on Saturday Night Live actually looked like her. The biggest accomplishments: when she appeared on SNL they had their highest ratings in years and she was the most searched on Google for 2008! That’s impressive considering most of it was in the span of three months. When she came to Dubuque tons of democrats turned out just to say they saw her in person.

I know that she was not liked by all. She was ridiculed in the press, many republicans did not like the choice, was not as knowledgeable on some of the issues, was criticized for her spending or family story, and did not have much freedom with the press, something now she regrets.

For all these reasons she is my choice for Person of the Year. How do you go from governor of the largest but often most forgotten about state to the worldwide stage in a day? That says something and whether republicans like it or not she is going to be around for awhile, we have not seen the last of her. Well she did not win or dramatically change the national landscape all that much she made an impression on the hearts and minds of Americans and she will be back. How many stories have been reported about John McCain in the last few weeks but almost everyday you hear something about her. I think that deserves recognition.

I want to know who your person of the year is, comment below and let me know.