WASHINGTON: Barack Obama, the politician who rose from obscurity to become the first African-American president of the US, was named Person of the Year by US magazine Time.
On Wednesday, Time cited Obama's unlikely run for the presidency, his ability to energize voters and the expectations abounding for his presidency at home and abroad as some of its reasons for picking him as the top story of 2008.
'The real story of Obama's year is the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments,' the magazine wrote, citing his triumph over the much-favoured Hillary Clinton in an epic, six-month-long Democratic presidential primary season.
Time's annual award goes to the person who had the most impact on the news, 'for good or ill', in that particular year.
The distinction has in past years gone to Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, and US President George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.