Bek Orozaliyev
Time Magazine has named President-elect Barack Obama the Man of the Year yesterday. The influential American weekly awards this honourable title every December to a person, or group of people, who has exerted the most powerful impact on global events over the outgoing year. Obama left other candidates, such as America's former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and head of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, far behind. Last year, Time named then-Russian President Vladimir Putin the Man of the Year.
This nomination has been awarded since 1927. In 1938 it was given to Adolph Hitler, in 1939 and 1942 to Joseph Stalin, in 1957 to Nikita Khrushchev, in 1987 to Mikhail Gorbachev, and in 1979 to Ayatollah Khomeini.