Bush Is Named Time’s Person of the Year

There will be no recount on this one: President-elect George W. Bush was named Sunday as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

As in this year’s razor-thin presidential election, the Texas governor received the nod over Vice President Al Gore. According to Time Managing Editor Walter Isaacson, the magazine decided last week that the new president-elect--either one--would receive its annual distinction.

Why?

“The survivor would not only be the next president but a symbol of a historic showdown that would be remembered and cited a century hence,” Isaacson wrote.

As for Bush, Isaacson wrote, “he remade and united the Republican Party and defeated a talented vice president who had the wind at his back after eight years of wallet-popping prosperity.”

“His amiable demeanor,” Isaacson continued, “tapped into a desire to end years of meaningless partisan rancor.”

In an interview with the magazine, Bush said he viewed the close election as positive.

“It gives us a chance to show we can rise above a divided house, that there are some issues . . . that are more important than that which has divided the house,” the 54-year-old Bush said.

Time’s first cover choice was Charles Lindbergh in 1927; last year’s person was Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. President Clinton was twice named Person of the Year--first after his election in 1992, and again with special prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr in 1998 after the Monica S. Lewinsky scandal.

Time editors choose the person of the year by deciding who had the greatest effect, positive or negative, over the last 12 months.