Fed Chair of the Year: It’s Ben!

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Monika Bauerlein,
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A concerned reader writes:

After Stengel announced on Morning Joe that Time’s Man of the Year was Bernanke, I heard a pop. So, I just wanted to make sure that wasn’t your head exploding.

First of all, it’s Person of the Year, you sexist dolt. But anyway, I’m fine, thanks very much, and happy to see that the Obama administration now has a second Time award to go along with its single (so far) Nobel Peace Prize. But what I really want to know is: what did Bernanke do this year? It’s true that I didn’t want him reappointed, but I freely acknowledge that, a few mistakes aside, he did a helluva job last year. So what’s the deal? Was 2009 really so boring that Time’s editors decided they had to reach back a year to find someone worth putting on their cover?