Time – Person of the Year

Bush is chosen as Person of the Year after the Supreme Court rules he is the new President of the United States, after campaigning against Al Gore in an election that  proved to be the closest race in the history of US voting. Bush is the first President to be awarded Time’s honor even before he begins his term. Journalist Barry Gray views Time’s choice as a political statement:

Bush was not elected president, he was selected by judicial fiat. He should, by rights, be called the president-select. The fact that this distinction has been universally ignored by the media and the political establishment is indicative of their desire to bury the events of recent weeks and, in the prevailing parlance, “move on.”