Coming in after the Dalai Lama (1) and Vladimir Putin (2), Barack Obama was ranked the 3rd most influental person in the world of 2008 by Time Magazine.
CNN describes the list as:
Time magazine’s fifth annual list of the world’s 100 most influential people includes leaders, thinkers, heroes, artists, scientists and more. Drawing nominees from 23 countries…
Read the full list here.
Barack Obama, as I previously stated, was ranked number three. Written by Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, Time reports:
The first time I met Barack we had coffee together at a shop in downtown Chicago. He was in a small law firm, and I was at the Justice Department’s civil rights division in the Clinton Administration. Like many who meet him, I hoped he would one day run for public office. You just want people of his caliber to lead.
When at last he decided to run for the Illinois Senate, he called to ask for my help, and I was eager to give it. “I’ll contribute at the max,” I pledged. “Deval,” he said, “in Illinois there is no max.” I said, “Brother, I’m sorry, there has to be a max!”
Barack, 46, has already changed American politics. We often hear about the size of the crowds he attracts, as a measure of the excitement about his candidacy. It’s the variety of the crowd that is the real phenomenon: little kids who sit on the floor in front of the podium, and the 101-year-old gentleman who stood up from his wheelchair in Iowa and said, “I’m with him too.” Farmers in overalls next to people in business suits. Every race, religion and creed. Every political party and no party at all.
You can feel their excitement about being in Barack’s presence—and about being in the presence of one another. They glimpse for a minute what it might be like to find common cause across differences. That’s how Barack has changed politics.
Another interesting bit, is that Oprah was also named in the top 100 list and her entry was written by Michelle Obama. She writes:
Oprah is a wonderful friend and an incredible force. Her friendship and support have meant so much to Barack and me.
As Barack often says about his own life, Oprah’s story is one that truly could happen only in America. After the struggles she endured as a young girl, she became a popular talk-show host with a national following. But she didn’t stop there. Using her platform to serve as a global role model, she challenges us to make the world as it is the world as it should be. And she is always the first to show us how it can be done.
In the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of watching Oprah inspire thousands of Americans to participate in our democracy. She has also reached out to thousands more who might not have known there was a seat for them at the table at all—people who desperately need a voice.
Over the past 20 years, Oprah, 54, has developed and nurtured a relationship with her viewers and readers built on the recognition that there is more that unites us than divides us—that our shared experiences in work, life and love, in family and community, in our hopes and dreams, know no barriers; that regardless of race, gender, socioeconomic status or hometown, we are our brothers’ keepers, our sisters’ keepers.
For this impact on all of us, I am honored to honor Oprah, the only person to make this list every year since it began.
Interestingly, John McCain’s entry was written by Joe Lieberman. Is anyone smelling vice president?
Filed under: barack obama, election, politics, time magazine | Tagged: 100 in 2008, 100 most influental people in 2008, barack obama, joe lieberman, john mccain, michelle obama, obama, oprah, oprah winfrey, time magazine, time magazine top 100
