There are many traditions that roll around at the end of a year: top movies of the year, top songs, memorable moments, that sort of thing. It’s just an annual accounting, a recall of moments, good and bad, that mattered over the previous 12 months.
Among those annual end-of-year traditions is Time Magazine naming their “Person of the Year.” It’s something we all look forward to hearing, even if it’s almost always something lots of people will disagree with. And in that regard, 2020 was no different.
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This year, *Time*’s editors chose a combo for their “Person of the Year”: President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris.
Explaining their decision, Time ‘s Editor-in-Chief, Edward Felsenthal, said that the “Person of the Year” isn’t always about what’s happened over the year, but is often forward-looking.
“If Donald Trump was a force for disruption and division over the past four years, Biden and Harris show where the nation is heading: a blend of ethnicities, lived experiences and worldviews that must find a way forward together if the American experiment is to survive,” Felsenthal wrote .
Earlier in the day, *Time* had teased the announcement by narrowing it down to four candidates.
The other three nominees, in addition to Biden and Harris, were President Trump; Dr. Anthony Fauci and the healthcare, sanitation, and postal workers who kept the country running during stay-at-home measures; and the racial justice movements that swept the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
It is hardly out of the ordinary for incoming presidential administrations to get the nod from *Time*.
In fact, the magazine has selected the president-elect as “Person of the Year” a dozen times, going all the way back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, NPR reported.
Selecting both Biden and Harris is a bit of history as well. The 78-year-old Biden will be both the oldest person elected president and the oldest to be named “Person of the Year.” Harris is the first vice-president to be named “Person of the Year” as well.
However, despite a lengthy article explaining the decision to select Biden and Harris as the “Person of the Year,” criticism has come in heavily.
Many online decried the choice of the incoming presidential administration over those risking their lives during a generational global pandemic.
“I mean, Fauci’s pretty obviously the actual person of the year, right?” wrote 538’s Claire Malone on Twitter . “No offense to Biden/Harris, but ‘leadership’ doesn’t just mean winning an election. Fauci was unknown to most Americans and became THE stabilizing/omnipresent voice in the midst of mass chaos/misinfo.”
“Dear @TIME. Instead of politicians and celebrities You should’ve made front line and essential workers your ‘person of the year.’ Every day citizens that are not famous and don’t make millions but risk their lives for all of us. It would’ve been the best choice,” wrote Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean.
While the other shortlisted nominees would certainly be deserving, it’s undeniable that Biden and Harris were history-makers in 2020 as well.
Biden’s primary win seemed unlikely early on in the process, but a surge of momentum around Super Tuesday carried him to victory.
And after an election unlike any other we’ve ever seen before, Biden and Harris received more votes than any presidential ticket in history, and it made Harris the first woman on a winning presidential ticket.
What do you think of Time ‘s selection? Let us know in the comments!
