NEW YORK — President-elect Barack Obama is adding to his trophy case, having been named Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2008.
The magazine's managing editor, Rick Stengel, made the announcement on Wednesday's "Today" show.
Time also singled out five others who were in the running for the honor: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, GOP vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Chinese director Zhang Yimou, the man behind the opening ceremony at last summer's Beijing Olympics.
"In many, many ways, the person of the year was in effect invented for Barack Obama," Stengel told "Today" co-hosts Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira. "He's a transformational figure; he's done something extraordinary; he made some promises that he's actually kept already.
"Ultimately, he's the quissential person of the year," added Stengel.
In the Person of the Year issue, which hits newsstands Friday, the first black president of the United States speaks about how he took America by storm.
"I don't think that Americans want hubris from their next president," says the 47-year-old Obama. "[But] I do think that we received a strong mandate for change. And I know that people have said, 'Well, what does this change mean?' ... It means a government that is not ideologically driven. It means a government that is competent. It means a government, most importantly, that is focused day in, day out on the needs and struggles, the hopes and dreams of ordinary people."
- Comment
