Barack Obama Is Okay, But Superstorm Sandy Is The "Person Of The Year"

Aren’t there any other black presidents who win historic elections against old white rich guys? No? Well then, Barack Obama is the Person of the Year, according to TIME, which is not even trying anymore now that Newsweek is gone. Obama was chosen because, let’s see, “We are in the midst of historic cultural and demographic changes, and Barack Obama is both the symbol and in some ways the architect of this new America. In 2012, he found and forged a new majority, turned weakness into opportunity and sought, amid great adversity, to create a more perfect union.”

If taking our guns away and taxing the Koch Brothers at a 99% federal rate and “solving the ocean” makes for a more perfect union, we … well, we’re pretty much good with all that! But “Superstorm Sandy” was obviously the Person of the Year. Obama is a historical marker for historical demographic shifts and the end of a certain kind of corporate-funded hate-filled “populism” that will hopefully die with the elderly white human grudges who kept it going since the Reagan era. But Sandy was more than that. How much more depends on how severe climate change already is, how fast it’s accelerating, and how quickly we can finally get it together to properly manage and maintain the only known habitable planet within 24 trillion miles. That’s a long way, right, Obama?

Congratulations, Sandy! You are The Awl’s “Person of the Year.”