WASHINGTON, Dec 19 (AFP) - President George W. Bush was named Time magazine's Person of the Year, after a reelection victory that he said was about the "use of American influence."
Officials from the magazine announced Sunday that Bush got the nod "for sticking to his guns (literally and figuratively), for reshaping the rules of politics to fit his ten-gallon-hat leadership style and for persuading a majority of voters this time around that he deserved to be in the White House for another four years,' managing editor Jim Kelly wrote.
In an interview with the newsmagazine, Bush acknowledged his critics here and internationally, but said a tough US foreign policy was more than warranted following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"My presidency is one that has drawn some fire, whether it be at home or around the world. Unfortunately, if you're doing big things, most of the time you're never going to be around to see them (to fruition), whether it be cultural change or spreading democracy in parts of the world where people just don't believe it can happen," he said.
"I understand that. I don't expect many short-term historians to write nice things about me."
Time's year-end ritual comes as Washington prepares for Bush's inauguration ceremony next month, and as Baghdad prepares for elections the US president insists will go on despite unrelenting violence.
His clear victory over Democrat John Kerry in November stood in sharp contrast to the contrasted results in 2000, when the US Supreme Court ultimately halted legal battles over recounts of disputed ballots in the razor-tight race against Al Gore.
That left legions of Americans convinced that his presidency was illegitimate -- doubts that receded after the September 11, 2001 attacks but surfaced again amid anger over the war on Iraq.
"The election was about this, this issue of the use of American influence," Bush told the magazine.
"One of the great ironies of life will be that a Palestinian state and Iraq became the catalyst for change in a part of the world that needs change. At least, that's our foreign policy, it needs to change," he said.
Bush's approval rating now is just about where it was in the lead-up to this year's election, 49 percent, according to results of a Time poll also unveiled Sunday.
And half of Americans still think the United States is headed in the wrong direction, the survey found -- the kind of numbers that many thought indicated a defeat for Bush in balloting.
But Bush prevailed despite an unsettled economy and the war in Iraq which has now claimed almost 1,300 American lives and shows no sign of ending.
Pundits awaiting Sunday's announcement had speculated the nod might go to members of the September 11 commission for their hard-hitting report, Mel Gibson for his groundbreaking "Passion of Christ," or even to God -- presumably due to the emerging prominence of religious values in American social and political life.
Time picked Bush as person of the year after his first election in 2000, but the following year the honor went to New York's then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani for his response to the September 11 attacks.
In 2002, the weekly named three whistleblowers and last year chose the American soldier, in acknowledgement of the service members in the US armed forces.
12/19/2004 16:41 GMT - AFP