Back on July 1, I ruminated on who would be named TIME's Person of the Year if the magazine had been forced to make its choice based on just the first six moths of the year. The criteria for naming the POY are a bit nebulous and changeable, in spite of the succinct statement the magazine tries to make about them each year. The selection is the person who, for good or ill, appears to have had the greatest influence or is most in sync with prevailing, important trends in the year ending.