Time credited Bernanke with creative leadership that ensured 2009 would be a year of recovery, however weak, rather than a catastrophic second Great Depression.

Ben Bernanke's term as Federal Reserve chairman ends on January 31st, but the Senate vote to confirm Bernanke's second term will most likely be delayed because of the current focus on health care reform.

So has Ben Bernanke earned the title of Time Person of the Year 2009? Should he even be confirmed for a second term? While Bernanke is expected to be confirmed a second time as Federal Reserve Chairman, and will serve during the interim, he has many opponents who disagree with his economic theories. In addition, many see the bank bail out that he and Obama engineered as a failure, because the banks still are not lending even though they have been saved with tax dollars. And executives at these same banks had the nerve to give themselves tremendous bonuses financed with taxpayers' money. They were supposed to use this money to spur the small business lending that was going to save the economy. Instead, the money that Bernanke (in part) recommended America borrow is padding these banks' balance sheets.

Because of moves like these, Bernanke faces vocal enemies who are seeking to strip the Federal Reserve of much of it's power, even as the Obama Administration is looking to make the Fed a possible regulatory arm in its plan to develop greater banking oversight. If Ben Bernanke can't even make the banks he gave money to lend that money to credit-worther borrowers, how can he be an enforcer of stricter regulations? It may be possible. Only time will tell.

Until then, read more about Ben Bernanke, Time Person of the Year 2009, who the magazine calls 'The Most Powerful Nerd on the Planet.' I am not sure that the failure of his economic plan makes Ben Bernanke worthy of the appellation "Time Person of the Year 2009." But perhaps during this year of political turmoil and economic downturn, the pickings were slim.