President Barack Obama has been named Time's 2012 Person of the Year.

"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." Obama won a second term in the White House last month, withstanding a challenge by Mitt Romney and varying degrees of foreign and domestic tumult.

The short list of runners-up for the Time distinction:

The late Malala Yousafzai, a symbol of the struggle for global women's rights
Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's new president
Renowned physicist Fabiola Gianotti
Apple CEO Tim Cook

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