Forbes: The World’s Most Powerful People

On By Norbert HauptIn Crack-Ups, Political

Forbes Magazine’s lead article in the November 30 edition is The World’s Most Powerful People.

In a subsection, they asked Howard Dean and Karl Rove to pick the most powerful people in politics.

The link above shows the full stories, albeit in Forbes.com awfully slow and bloated web format, which is, for my tastes, too cumbersome to read. Get a hint, Forbes: Take the flashiness and fluff out of your site and make it friendlier to readers and not to advertisers.

Howard Dean picked, somewhat predictably:

  1. Barack Obama- President, U.S
  2. Michelle Obama – First Lady, U.S.
  3. Nancy Pelosi – Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives
  4. Harry Reid – Majority Leader, U.S. Senate
  5. Christopher Dodd – Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Banking
  6. Barney Frank – Chairman, U.S. House Committee on Financial Services
  7. Karen Ignagni – Chief Executive, American Health Insurance Plans

Karl Rove picked:

  1. Mitch McConnell – Senate Republican Leader, U.S. Senate
  2. John Boehner – House Republican Leader, U.S. Senate
  3. Jon Kyl – Senate minority whip, U.S. Senate
  4. Eric Cantor, House minority whip, U.S. House of Representatives
  5. Paul Ryan, Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives
  6. Edwin Feulner, President, Heritage Foundation
  7. Charles Krauthammer, Columnist, the Washington Post

Out of Howard Dean’s list, the only one that I would not recognize walking past her on the street is Karen Ignagni. I remember having heard of her before, but I cannot picture her face. The 7th most powerful person in Washington?

But Karl Rove must be on sedatives. How can he possibly make a list and leave Obama off the list? This is preposterous. He may not like Obama or his policies. But the guy is the president, and he has the power. Forbes didn’t ask Rove who he wishes to be the most powerful people in politics, but who actually are.

And then, excuse my being obtuse, but I would recognize not one of  the seven if they passed me on the street. I would not be able to pick out Mitch McConnell in a lineup. I would probably pick out Boehner in a lineup, but I am not sure I’d recognize him passing in the street. The other ones, I have heard some of the names, but I could not picture their faces. The 7 most powerful people in politics?

It’s time for Karl Rove to go away. He’s had his years. It’s not his turn anymore.

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