Time magazine has bestowed their Man of the Year award upon the only person they could have without making themselves risible: George W. Bush. Whether you love him or hate him, no one man has had more of an impact on the world in the past year than has President Bush. Indeed no one has had more impact on the world for the last three years than has George Bush. He has liberated from tyranny 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, and brought hope for peace to a hopeless part of the world. He has ushered us out of a recession compounded by 9/11, restored dignity and professionalism to the White House, and has remained resolute in the face of tremendous difficulties and personal invective, never once responding to his critics in kind.
If the trends of the last three years continue for the next four, if Iraq becomes secure, social security and medicare are reformed, Iran and North Korea step back from the nuclear brink, and terrorism continues to be attrited, he will go down in history as a truly great president. He is the proper choice for Time magazine and the whining of dissenters just makes them look terribly small.