“TIME” Magazine has named Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States as their Man Of The Year for 2008.

The yearly feature, which has included people such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Joseph Stalin, Gandhi, Ted Turner, Baby Boomers, Adolph Hitler, and “You” (humanity who are in touch with the Information Age), recognizes people, ideas, places, or things that, as the magazine says, “for better or for worse, …has done the most to influence the events of the year.”

President-Elect Obama, who will be sworn into office January 20th, 2009, won the 2008 US Presidential campaign with 365 electoral votes, taking roughly 52% of the nation, while running against Arizona Senator John McCain. Voter turnout for the 2008 election was the highest in the United States in at least 40 years.

The “Person of the Year” tradition began in 1927, when the editors of “TIME” contemplated pieces to make up for a slow news period, but also to make up for the embarrassment of not featuring Charles Lindbergh on the cover, following his historic trans-Atlantic flight that year. “TIME” has continued to run such a piece every year since then.

The “Person Of The Year” issue of “TIME” will hit newsstands December 22nd, 2008.