United Liberty
Obama: Time’s Man Of The Year
Thu, 12/18/2008 - 12:27pm | posted by Luke Brady
I think Time Magazine is a little pre-emptive in picking Obama as the person of the year. He hasn’t done anything yet. The criteria is as follows:
“The Person of the Year” is the person who most affected the news for better or worse.” They say the selection generates much debate among Time staffers but they all agree that the award is “not an honor.”
“It’s neutral,” said Richard Stengel, TIME’s Managing Editor. “It is a recognition of somebody’s affect on the world.”
I guess I’m looking for more substance than the rhetoric of “Hope and Change” which is all we currently have. I’d start by looking at Wikipedia’s 2008 for an alternative. I’m all for Obama being Time’s person of the year after he’s achieved something.
By the way, TIME’s editors asked for suggestions from the public via YouTube, and interestingly Barack Obama did not win the popular vote.
Who did? Former Republican candidate for president Ron Paul.
Am I a little biased? Maybe. I certainly think Ron Paul would have been a better candiate for Time’s man of the year. Then again, I guess anyone who opposed the Bailouts, the Patriot Act and FISA should be considered. He was certainly in the news enough and is frequently being brought in to comment on the economic crisis; unfortunately, few people actually take his advice.
I think the best choice would be not a person, but instead a group of people - creditors. They had more effect on the world than anyone else. Hank Paulson would also have been a good pick.
Picking the president-elect seems like an easy cop-out. They picked George W. Bush in 2004. Sure, Obama probably was the towering figure of 2008 but his pick is just so predictable and unsurprising. It’s not a bad choice. It’s just a dull one.
“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.” - Thomas Jefferson
President Obama is the newly elected president of the United States. However, the outgoing President Bush was put into humiliation by an Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi during his last surprise visit to Iraq. The Iraqi journalist felt disgusted at the U.S. President’s treatment of his country that’s why he had decisively taken off his shoes and hurled them at President Bush. In Muslim culture, hit footwear fling is an insult of the highest magnitude. Good Muslims remove their shoes before taking sanctuary in a mosque. Besieged Iraqi citizens threw their shoes at the toppling statue of Saddam Hussein during liberation, so that should better explain the depth of this insult. The “Bush Shoe-Thrower” is viewed as a hero across the Middle East. A Libyan charity group called Wa Attassimou proclaims that the Iraqi authorities should release al-Zeidi and he should be honored for his deed. Bush, on the other hand, laughed it off and referred to it as a “sign of a free society,” similar to what payday loans are. The mad journalist is still in custody and the infamous footwear is being held for evidence. Check this article to read more. I just hope that when Barack Obama take-over the position he would not experience this “shoe-throwing” incident when he goes to Iraq.
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