Putin beats Obama to top of Forbes list

So Barack Obama has been bumped off the top spot of the annual Forbes list of the most powerful 72 people on the planet – one for every 100m of population – by the Russian president Vladimir Putin.

It is another clear indicator of how rapidly Mr Obama’s star is waning both at home and abroad.

The magazine explained that Mr Putin takes the top spot “because he so frequently shows his strength at home and on the global stage” citing the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and the recent “chess match” over Syria as examples.

Listening this morning to old speeches of Winston Churchill being played as his bust is unveiled in the capitol, the spine stiffens as the great man thunders about the need to exhibit “unconquerable willpower” in the face of adversity. The world, and America’s place in it, is more complicated today, but those words are a sharp reminder Mr Obama’s fundamental shortcoming as a leader.

Putin is a strongman, and he understands the nature of power and how to wield it. The world is worse off for the fact that, these last five years, there’s been no one in the White House to hold him in check.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

B.N