For a second time, Barack Obama named Time Person of the Year

"The Obama effect was not ephemeral anymore, no longer reducible to what had once been mocked as 'that hopey-changey stuff'... history would not record Obama's presidency as a fluke," it added.

Obama, who was interviewed by the publication for the cover story, said of his re-election, "it was easy to think that maybe 2008 was the anomaly. And I think 2012 was an indication that, no, this is not an anomaly. We've gone through a very difficult time. The American people have rightly been frustrated at the pace of change, and the economy is still struggling, and this President we elected is imperfect. And yet despite all that, this is who we want to be. That's a good thing".

In Obama, the nation also saw a President who did not shy away from becoming emotional and wiping away tears on more than one occasion.

Obama was also critical of himself when in the wake of the Newtown school killings, he said the country and its President has not done enough to deal with mass shootings.

Citing Obama's historic re-election win, Time said the election was "a choice, not a referendum."

"You do understand that as President of the United States, the amount of power you have is overstated in some ways. But what you do have the capacity to do is to set a direction," Time quoted Obama as saying.

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