Time's most influential people

They've got their big list out, so here's a few cents worth of reaction...

OK, the order of importance is important since it was picked by Time. Obama, Hillary, McCain. More on that below. As to the current president, number seven (lucky) but the photo is pure entertainment. Apparently if you lighten it up in Photoshop the Iron Cross becomes visible just below his chin!

How about Michelle Obama on Oprah..

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.

Since everyone in America should already be aware they have a voice through voting rights when they turn eighteen this is an interesting comment, probably partially in reference to her "I'm proud" line but with the unintended consequence of branding a lot of Oprah viewers as mind-numbed robots who didn't realize they had a vote until Oprah told them who to vote for.

Paul Wolfowitz on Anwar Ibrahim. Wolfowitz? Really?

And Baitullah Meshud instead of bin Laden, Zawahiri, or even Ahmadinejad? Interesting pick for the top 20.

Most surprising to me was Mia Farrow, only because I wasn't aware of her work on Darfur. Apparently she's been one of the cadre of people trying to bring light to China's role in this matter due to their sponsorship of the perverted government of the Sudan, something not played up very big by most in the mainstream media.

As to the rest, I realize Peter Gabriel was worshiped by Genesis fans but didn't realize he had a halo. And working with Carter and Kofi Annan?

Lastly, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg as the number one scientist/thinker? How did he ever come in before Larry Brilliant?

Perhaps the most interesting list is the one picked by Time readers who, other than selecting Stephen Colbert as the third most influential person on the planet (Jon Stewart was 44th), picked a strange group of politicians in the top 15--Gore at number six, OK, not so strange, but followed by Mike Huckabee at seven and Eliot Spitzer at fourteen! Bush 43 came in at 158 while Hillary came in at 183, under guys like Jeremiah Wright and Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Obama? Came in at 72 (a few ticks ahead of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but one behind Britney Spears) while John McCain led the pack of presidential candidates coming in at number 56. Of course, "high school musical cast" came in one ahead of him.