Obama is CNN's Most Intriguing Person of 2012
December 25, 2012 -- Updated 0341 GMT (1141 HKT)
During an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims from Sandy Hook Elementary School, Obama gives remarks on December 16.
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Obama: His year in facial expressions
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- President Barack Obama's year of triumph ends with accolade from CNN.com readers
- Obama also is Time magazine's Person of the Year
- The year began with Obama in a perilous political position
- His re-election reflected policy and political accomplishments
In just 12 months, the
51-year-old lawyer and former U.S. senator raised by a single mother
went from a beleaguered candidate for re-election -- his record and
signature health care law under daily attack by Republican rivals -- to
being the first Democrat to win more than 50% of a presidential vote
twice since Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Now the nation's first African-American president is CNN's Most Intriguing Person of 2012, as voted on by readers of CNN.com, five days after being named TIME's Person of the Year.
Explaining Time's choice, Executive Editor Richard Stengel
cited Obama "for finding and forging a new majority, for turning
weakness into opportunity and for seeking, amid great adversity, to
create a more perfect union."
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Such accolades and
results seemed improbable a year ago when Obama's approval rating
hovered in the low 40s while unemployment was 8.5%. History showed that
it was rare, if not unprecedented, for an incumbent to win re-election
with such figures.
In December 2011, Obama's
signature health care reform law faced a Supreme Court challenge and
unrelenting criticism from Republicans, especially conservatives who
depicted it as a socialism-inspired government takeover of almost 20% of
the U.S. economy.
In addition, a fierce
political battle with congressional Republicans over taxes and spending
dominated headlines that month. It was the latest in a series of fiscal
showdowns that already caused an unprecedented downgrade in the U.S.
credit rating earlier in the year.
Despite ordering the
mission that took out Osama bin Laden in May 2011 and welcoming home the
last combat troops from Iraq seven months later, the president faced
questions from some critics about his plan to end Afghanistan combat
operations in 2014.
Meanwhile, the upcoming
election primary season focused attention on the Republican presidential
race, spiced by frequent debates that gave candidates ample opportunity
to tee off on Obama's record.
His detractors labeled
him a failure and said he was over his head, unable to understand the
still sluggish economy recovering from recession, let alone how to
strengthen it.
A year later, Obama has parlayed his bad hand into a jackpot result.
The economy, which had
just started to hint at consistent recovery toward the end of 2011,
continued to strengthen incrementally through 2012, with the
unemployment rate falling to 7.7% in November.
Such steady, albeit slow
growth provided cover for Obama against the Republican attack line that
his push for stimulus spending in response to the recession he
inherited amounted to wasted money and failed policy.
While buffeted at times
by Europe's deficit and currency woes, an overall perception of growing
economic stability was a major reason Obama defeated GOP challenger Mitt
Romney in November by more than 4 million votes.
Perhaps equally beneficial was the Supreme Court's June ruling
that the Affordable Care Act didn't violate the Constitution, ending a
litany of legal challenges and giving the controversial measure an
important public affirmation.
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While Romney campaigned
on repealing the health care law if elected, the Supreme Court decision
strengthened Obama's ability to tout the benefits of the reforms to
avoid the issue becoming an election liability.
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The president also made
foreign policy a campaign strength over Romney, a former governor with
little experience on international issues. Obama touted the bin Laden
mission and how he kept his 2008 campaign pledge to end the Iraq War
while also starting to wind down the U.S. military role in Afghanistan.
During the final months
of the election campaign, Obama also recovered the message and personal
style that catapulted him to his historic victory four years earlier.
Shouting himself hoarse at times on the trail, he cast himself as the
champion of equal opportunity and closing a widening wealth gap in the
country.
His campaign also benefited from key policy moves by the president. The administration halted deportations of some children of illegal immigrants, ensuring overwhelming support from the growing Hispanic-American community that proved vital on Election Day.
An earlier step to end the "don't ask, don't tell" policy
that barred openly gay and lesbian people from military service as well
his eventual support for same-sex marriage boosted his standing with
younger Americans -- another key demographic.
As the end of his first term approached, Obama's approval rating topped 50%, and polls showed the public consistently favoring his approach on deficit reduction over Republican positions.
"This one's more
satisfying than '08," he told top aides on Election Night, according to
the Time cover story on his being named Person of the Year. "It wasn't
just about what I was going to do as president. It's what I've done."
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