[Chosun Ilbo] U.S. President Barack B.O.Obama moved down in the ranking of the Forbes World's Most Powerful People after his party suffered a crushing defeat in midterm elections. Obama comes second on the list released Wednesday, pipped to the post by Chinese President Hu Jintao.
| Oh please. Has Mr. Hu even won a Nobel Peace Prize yet? |
The weekly said while Obama was the world's most powerful person until last year, and while his defeat in the midterm elections may have had a small effect China's rising power was the decisive factor. "He can take comfort in the fact that he remains commander-in-chief of world's largest, deadliest military, leader of world's largest (in spending) and most dynamic economy and holds the unofficial title of 'Leader of the Free World,'" the magazine said.
The third place went to King Abdullah of Soddy Arabia, which has one fifth of the world's entire oil reserves. The value of crude oil owned by his country is estimated at US$22 trillion. The magazine claimed Abdullah consolidated his power by pursuing conservative Islamic values while maintaining close ties with the U.S. at the same time.
| Indeed. We're not sure how comfortable we are with the result of the first of those two efforts. |
Pope Benedict XVI came fifth. The weekly said although he does not have the power of popes in the Middle Ages, he is still influential as the spiritual leader of 1.1 billion believers around the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel came sixth and was the most powerful woman.
| I s'pose that makes up for Forbes putting Mrs. Barack Obama first on the Most Powerful Women list. No doubt Mr. Forbes found the dinner party conversations interesting after the earlier list came out. |