Reuters

President Barack Obama was named TIME’s Person of the Year for 2012, citing his historic re-election last month as symbolic of the nation’s changing demographics amid the backdrop of high unemployment and other challenges.

TIME editor Rick Stengel announced the choice on NBC’s “Today” program on Wednesday.

“He’s basically the beneficiary and the author of a kind new America – a new demographic, a new cultural America that he is now the symbol of,” he said.