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A poster of US President-elect Barack Obama by former street artist Shephard Fairley makes the cover of the December 29 issue of Time magazine, which picked him as the 'Person of the Year' for 2008. The early poster of Senator Obama became a populist image of his campaign. [Agencies]
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Time magazine Wednesday named US President-elect Barack Obama its 2008 "Person of the Year."
"For having the confidence to sketch an ambitious future in a gloomy hour, and for showing the competence that makes Americans hopeful he might pull it off, the president-elect is TIME's Person of the Year," the newsweekly said.
It said US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was first runner-up followed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin and China's Zhang Yimou, who directed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Time said its "Person of the Year" selection was the "person or persons who most affected the news and our lives, for good or ill, and embodied what was important about the year."
The magazine last year selected Russian leader Vladimir Putin as its 2007 "Person of the Year."
In an interview with Time, Obama said that while he may have won a "decisive victory" over Republican John McCain in the November presidential election, "I don't think that Americans want hubris from their next president."
"I do think we received a strong mandate for change," he added in the interview.
Asked about the state of the economy, Obama said "I think we should anticipate that 2009 is going to be a tough year.
"And if we make some good choices, I'm confident that we can limit some of the damage in 2009 and that in 2010 we can start seeing an upward trajectory on the economy. "But this is a difficult hole that we've dug ourselves into."
On his foreign policy priorities, Obama said: "there's no doubt that managing the transition in Iraq is going to be a top priority. Managing a more effective strategy in Afghanistan will be a top priority.
Obama, who is to be sworn in on January 20 as the 44th president of the United States, said long-term priorities include nuclear proliferation and climate change.
"I think dealing with development and poverty around the world is going to be a critical component of our foreign policy," he added. "It's good for our security and not just charity."
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(Agencies)
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美國總統當選人巴拉克?奧巴馬于本周三被《時代》雜志評選為2008年度人物。
《時代》周刊稱：“在眼下的經濟困難時期，奧巴馬表現出了建設美好未來的信心，并展示出了讓人信服的實現這一目標的能力，所以當選年度人物當之無愧。”
同時獲得提名的人物包括，人氣僅次奧巴馬的美國財政部長亨利?保爾森，以及法國總統薩科奇、共和黨副總統候選人莎拉?佩林和成功執導今年北京奧運會開閉幕式的中國導演張藝謀。
《時代》稱，“年度人物”評選的是當年“極大影響媒體和人們生活（無論好壞），以及能體現年度大事的個人或團體”。
去年《時代》的年度人物是時任俄羅斯總統的普京。
奧巴馬在接受《時代》采訪時說，盡管他在上月的總統大選中可能以“絕對優勢”戰勝了共和黨候選人麥凱恩，贏得勝利，但他稱“美國人不希望看到一個狂妄自大的下任總統”。
他說：“我真切地認為，我們必須改變。”
在被問及目前的經濟狀況時，奧巴馬回答說：“我認為2009年將是非常艱難的一年。”
“如果我們做出一些正確的選擇，我相信明年能少一些損失，到2010年，經濟會有新起色。但這是一個十分艱巨的任務。”
在談及外交政策的重點時，奧巴馬說：“毫無疑問，調整對伊政策將首當其沖，此外調整在阿富汗的戰略也是外交政策的一個重點。”
他說，從長遠來看，核擴散和氣候變化問題也不容忽視。奧巴馬將于明年1月20日就任美國第44任總統。
“我認為，解決全球的發展和貧困問題將成為美國外交政策中十分重要的一部分。這不僅有利于慈善，而且關乎我們的國家安全。”
（英語點津姍姍編輯）
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