New York ? After winning re-election and “reshaping the rules of politics to fit his 10-gallon-hat leadership style,” President George Bush for the second time was chosen as Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

The magazine’s editors tapped Bush “for sharpening the debate until the choices bled, for reframing reality to match his design, for gambling his fortunes — and ours — on his faith in the power of leadership.”

Time’s 2004 Person of the Year package, on newsstands today, includes an Oval Office interview with Bush, an interview with his father, former President George H. W. Bush, and a profile of Bush’s chief political adviser, Karl Rove.

In an interview with the magazine, Bush attributed his victory over Democratic candidate John Kerry to his foreign policy and the wars he began in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“The election was about the use of American influence,” Bush said.

Bush remains a polarizing figure in America and around the world, and that’s part of the reason the magazine selected him, said Managing Editor Jim Kelly.

“Many, many Americans deeply wish he had not won,” Kelly said in a telephone interview. “And yet he did.”

In the Time article, Bush said he relished that some people dislike him.

In this photo released by Time Magazine, President Bush is revealed as Person of the Year on the cover of its latest issue, to hit newsstands today.

“I think the natural instinct for most people in the political world is that they want people to like them,” Bush said. “On the other hand, I think sometimes I take kind of a delight in who the critics are.”

Kelly said other candidates included Michael Moore and Mel Gibson, “because in different ways their movies tapped in to deep cultural streams,” and political strategist Rove, who is widely credited with engineering Bush’s win. Kelly said choosing Rove alone would have taken away from the credit he said Bush deserved.