Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Right Man at the Right TIME ...

Borrowing a line from NBC's Today Show, "could TIME magazine’s 2008 Person of the Year have been anyone other than President-elect Barack Obama?"

Personally? No, I don't think it could. The combination of who he is, and what he shall be, made the answer to that question - for me, at least - a foregone conclusion.

"In one of the craziest elections in American history, he overcame a lack of experience, a funny name, two candidates who are political institutions and the racial divide to become the 44th President of the United States,"
TIME Magazine wrote in naming Barack Obama their Person of the Year 2008.

Early this year, while in Thailand, I was asked who might be our next president. Thailand is among the most westward-looking of southeast-Asian nations, and is a long-time ally of the United States ... so there was more than a little interest in our presidential election process, which was still in the primary stage at that time. In response to a young man's questions, I had to admit that I really didn't know if our country would elect a woman, or a black man as our president, at least not at this time ... someday, I'm sure they would ... but I just didn't know about this year.

Now I know ... and I don't see how TIME could have picked anyone else for their Person of the Year 2008.

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