Barack Obama is a lock as the Man of the Year. His election to the presidency is the story of the year. If popularity is the measure, those choices are hard to contest. However, if significance is the yardstick, then the 2008 crown goes to Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of coalition forces in Iraq and current head of CENTCOM. Not only is his defeat of the Iraqi insurgency the story of the year, how he achieved it is the most underreported story of the year. I didn't come to this conclusion by comparing achievements. I compared the consequences of...