Obama is Time’s ‘Person of the Year’

President-elect Barack Obama has been chosen Time magazine’s “Person of the Year,” a selection met with little surprise in media outlets and blogs Wednesday.

“But the essence of both Obama’s strength and his promise is that, according to a recent poll, a strong majority of Americans believe he will accomplish most of what he aims to do,” the magazine’s David Von Drehle wrote in its story on Obama. “For having the confidence to sketch that kind of future in this gloomy hour and for showing the competence that makes Americans hopeful that he will pull it off, Barack Obama is Time’s Person of the Year for 2008.”

Runners-up included Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), and Chinese film director Zhang Yimou.

“You don’t say,” Matthew Continetti of the conservative Weekly Standard wrote in response. “Was there really ever any competition?” asked Joe Sudbay of the liberal AMERICAblog.