Time Magazine has picked their person of the year. Guess who it is? It’s no surprise that the man who lit a fire under millions of previously uninspired voters is the publication’s “one to watch.” Barack Obama beat out Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to join the ranks of John F. Kennedy, Ghandi and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Speaking of FDR, a lot has been made in recent weeks about the comparisons between our next president and the 32nd chief executive. The most glaring similarity might be a recession hanging a cloud over their first days in the Oval Office. Native Chicagoan and Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter has been keeping a close eye on number 44 because of his parallels to FDR.

Alter wrote the book, The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. Alter told Eight Forty-Eight‘s Alison Cuddy that Obama might need Roosevelt’s charm and disposition to get past the threshold.