# Should President Bush be TIME's 2004 Man of the Year? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652 "2004-12-19T15:13:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/1 "2004-12-19T15:13:48Z")
[Cite](http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11739761%255E13780,00.html), [cite](http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a89GiENabyZk&refer=top_world_news) , [cite](http://www.baou.com/newswire/main.php?action=recent&rid=1949). As far as I can tell, he won for…beating John F. Kerry and winning the Presidency again. And “reshaping the rules of politics,” which I suppose is true – although if I decipher that to mean “made it okay to play dirty because it works,” Karl Rove should really be the one getting the honor. But to receive it “for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years”? If that’s a criterion for winning Man of the Year, shouldn’t _every_ president-elect receive the nomination? (I did enjoy the bit of vague wording in “…this time around…”, but.) For the record, he’s the 12th person ever to receive the appellation more than once, and the 8th president to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@Kel\_Varnsen\_Latex\_Division](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kel_Varnsen_Latex_Division)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/2 "2004-12-19T15:26:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Should President Bush be TIME’s 2004 Man of the Year? Yes. Who had a bigger impact on the world and America? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/3 "2004-12-19T15:52:41Z")
I’d have gone for Hosne Mubarek myself, just because he has a far cooler name, but sure, they had to pick someone. Why _not_ Bush? ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/4 "2004-12-19T16:34:03Z")
> [@](#): > > The winner must be “the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or for ill, and embodied what was important about the year, for better or for worse,” he said. How did they avoid giving it to Osama Bin Laden in 2001? ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/5 "2004-12-19T16:35:05Z")
Now I can’t stop imagining the award ceremony. “Mr Bin Laden is unable to be here personally to accept this award…” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/6 "2004-12-19T16:35:30Z")
I think he deserves it in the same tradition as Hitler and Stalin. It’s not supposed to be an honor, it’s just supposed to designate the person who had the most significant impact on the news. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/7 "2004-12-19T16:38:05Z")
Also, there’s kind of a weak field this year. US presidents tend to get it by default if there are no other strong candidates, especially if they’ve just won an election. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/8 "2004-12-19T16:41:49Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > How did they avoid giving it to Osama Bin Laden in 2001? There is an article on Wikipedia on the Man of the Year. The writer(s) of the article say that there had been something like three bin Laden coves in two months, and quite possibly that TIME wimped out and went with the choice that would be less likely to piss off subscribers and advertisers. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/9 "2004-12-19T16:50:43Z")
It’s the ultimate kiss of death. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/10 "2004-12-19T16:52:25Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It’s the ultimate kiss of death. Is it? I know there’s a Sports Illustrated curse, is there something similar associated with Time’s MOTY? ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/11 "2004-12-19T16:54:49Z")
Actual death or metaphorical? Just clarifying… ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/12 "2004-12-19T17:08:47Z")
_sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![cheddarsnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@cheddarsnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cheddarsnax)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/13 "2004-12-19T17:20:22Z")
> [@Avenger](#): > > How did they avoid giving it to Osama Bin Laden in 2001? Giving it to Giuliani was such a joke. Osama deserved to be Person of the Year in 2001, but Time didn’t have the balls to do it. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/14 "2004-12-19T17:44:06Z")
There was a previous thread here on the 2001 award, but I think it was lost in the Winter of our Missed Content. As I recall it was basically acknowledged that Time’s board had chickened out of giving it to OBL. I’ve never been able to take the award seriously since (and it’s not like it really meant that much beforehand anyway). ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/15 "2004-12-19T18:44:52Z")
What has Bush done in the last year that has been significant? Iraq is a continuation of '03 same with Afghanistan. He came out in support of a constitional admendment on an important social issue but everyone knew that the amendment was DOA. The main thing he did this last year was run an effective campaign to discredit Kerry hardly a Man of the Year accomplishment. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/16 "2004-12-19T22:51:51Z")
> [@treis](#): > > What has Bush done in the last year that has been significant? Iraq is a continuation of '03 same with Afghanistan. He came out in support of a constitional admendment on an important social issue but everyone knew that the amendment was DOA. The main thing he did this last year was run an effective campaign to discredit Kerry hardly a Man of the Year accomplishment. At this point, Bush can be the person affecting the world the most, just on sheer momentum. He will continue to mess up Iraq; the climate will continue to get warmer, and we’ll continue to do nothing about it; the budget and trade deficits will continue to be enormous; the dollar will continue to plunge, relative to other currencies; and our economy will have a good chance of losing the privileged status that comes with being the world’s reserve currency. That’s what his election win means, and that’s why he should be MoY for 2004. And that’s assuming the Dems become a genuinely effective opposition party, and are frequently able to talk some of the remaining moderate Republicans over to their side on various votes: that’s why I haven’t mentioned things like Social Security, tax deform, or the future of the Supreme Court. ---
**Author:** ![Monocracy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monocracy/32/4493_2.png) [@Monocracy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monocracy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/17 "2004-12-19T23:00:48Z")
He’s screwed up the nation’s economy, got the rest of the world to loathe the US, and brought us into an unecessary, costly war … and yet he still managed to grab 51% of the electorate. That’s a pretty big fucking accomplishment. Although i blame this more on Democratic incompetentcy rather than Bush’s prowess. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/18 "2004-12-19T23:16:17Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > There is an article on Wikipedia on the Man of the Year. The writer(s) of the article say that there had been something like three bin Laden coves in two months, and quite possibly that TIME wimped out and went with the choice that would be less likely to piss off subscribers and advertisers. They did wuss out, big time. I think the impending, or recently-completed, AOL/Time-Warmer merger had something to do with it as well. It was a bad joke. The award is basically Newsmaker of the Year, and as much as I was pulling for Jon Stewart, Bush winning does make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/19 "2004-12-19T23:51:58Z")
…actually, I was pulling for the Iraqi Insurgent. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652/20 "2004-12-20T00:05:11Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > But to receive it “for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years”? If that’s a criterion for winning Man of the Year, shouldn’t _every_ president-elect receive the nomination? (I did enjoy the bit of vague wording in “…this time around…”, but.) Just to address this part of your post, it’s actually very common for a president-elect to be Man of the Year. When it’s a new president, he almost always is Man of the Year. When it’s a reelected president, he becomes Man of the Year about half the time. So it’s by no means unprecedented. Ed [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-president-bush-be-times-2004-man-of-the-year/280652.md?page=2)