Fortune Magazine Taylor Swift
Fortune Magazine Taylor Swift, Haters gonna hate, but Taylor Swift is somehow a greater world leader than President Obama.
That’s according to Fortune magazine, whose second annual list of “World’s Greatest Leaders” bizarrely omitted the Leader of the Free World and put the “Shake It Off” singer at No. 6.
Fortune Editor Alan Murray said Obama didn’t make the cut because his call to “unite” the nation in 2008 “hasn’t happened.”
“Our politics (and) federal government is as dysfunctional (as) when he took office,” Murray wrote in an accompanying essay. “Abroad, the record is worse. ... Faced with difficult circumstances, President Obama has surrendered.”But while Murray faulted Obama for not playing nice with Republicans who made it clear from the start they wanted him to fail, he had no qualms about placing Purdue University President and GOP darling Mitch Daniels on the list at No. 41.
Fortune hailed Daniels for taking a “green-eyeshade approach” to balancing the university’s book.But left out of the glowing bio was this inconvenient truth — Daniels, as budget director for Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, helped turn a $236 billion surplus into a $400 billion deficit and saddled the country with $5 trillion in new debt.
Meanwhile, Obama largely succeeded in dragging the U.S. economy out of a recession he inherited from Daniels and the Bush Administration.
Still, that was not enough for Fortune, which also faulted Obama for an “abysmal” foreign policy record. The President didn’t make the cut last year, either.
Swift was placed ahead of John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, as well as the heads of General Motors and JPMorgan Chase, for becoming the highest-paid woman in music.
"(She) has crossed swords with Spotify, embraced corporate sponsorship, and moved to secure dozens of trademarks," the magazine said in a statement, referring to Swift’s assault on the streaming music service’s low pay for songwriters.
Swift did not respond to a call for comment.
Ahead of Swift were, in order, Apple CEO Tim Cook, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.7. Joanne Liu, president, Doctors without Borders.
8. John Roberts, chief justice, U.S. Supreme Court
9. Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors
10. Joshua Wong, activist, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement
11. Johnetta Elzie and DeRay McKesson, nonviolent protesters, Ferguson, Mo.
12. Jeremy Farrar, director, Wellcome Trust
13. James Comey, director, FBI
14. Ai-Jen Poo, director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
15. Mark Carney, Governor, Bank of England
Murray’s essay said his magazines list represented “50 women and men who have demonstrated superior leadership on the world stage.”
Other notables included Bill and Melinda Gates (18), Jeff Bezos (27), Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (25) and Jimmy Fallon (45), who got props for “making 'nice' seem pretty cool” on late-night television.
That’s according to Fortune magazine, whose second annual list of “World’s Greatest Leaders” bizarrely omitted the Leader of the Free World and put the “Shake It Off” singer at No. 6.
Fortune Editor Alan Murray said Obama didn’t make the cut because his call to “unite” the nation in 2008 “hasn’t happened.”
“Our politics (and) federal government is as dysfunctional (as) when he took office,” Murray wrote in an accompanying essay. “Abroad, the record is worse. ... Faced with difficult circumstances, President Obama has surrendered.”But while Murray faulted Obama for not playing nice with Republicans who made it clear from the start they wanted him to fail, he had no qualms about placing Purdue University President and GOP darling Mitch Daniels on the list at No. 41.
Fortune hailed Daniels for taking a “green-eyeshade approach” to balancing the university’s book.But left out of the glowing bio was this inconvenient truth — Daniels, as budget director for Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush, helped turn a $236 billion surplus into a $400 billion deficit and saddled the country with $5 trillion in new debt.
Meanwhile, Obama largely succeeded in dragging the U.S. economy out of a recession he inherited from Daniels and the Bush Administration.
Still, that was not enough for Fortune, which also faulted Obama for an “abysmal” foreign policy record. The President didn’t make the cut last year, either.
Swift was placed ahead of John Roberts, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, as well as the heads of General Motors and JPMorgan Chase, for becoming the highest-paid woman in music.
"(She) has crossed swords with Spotify, embraced corporate sponsorship, and moved to secure dozens of trademarks," the magazine said in a statement, referring to Swift’s assault on the streaming music service’s low pay for songwriters.
Swift did not respond to a call for comment.
Ahead of Swift were, in order, Apple CEO Tim Cook, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.7. Joanne Liu, president, Doctors without Borders.
8. John Roberts, chief justice, U.S. Supreme Court
9. Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors
10. Joshua Wong, activist, Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Movement
11. Johnetta Elzie and DeRay McKesson, nonviolent protesters, Ferguson, Mo.
12. Jeremy Farrar, director, Wellcome Trust
13. James Comey, director, FBI
14. Ai-Jen Poo, director, National Domestic Workers Alliance
15. Mark Carney, Governor, Bank of England
Murray’s essay said his magazines list represented “50 women and men who have demonstrated superior leadership on the world stage.”
Other notables included Bill and Melinda Gates (18), Jeff Bezos (27), Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (25) and Jimmy Fallon (45), who got props for “making 'nice' seem pretty cool” on late-night television.