While President Bush and the three surviving candidates for president made it, hardly any other American politicians did. There is a gaggle of entertainers - Oprah naturally, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Bruce Springsteen and, for some reason, Mariah Carey, among others. The only one from the mainstream media that we recognized was Tim Russert, who is apparently available to wield his mighty influence by appearing on television on Sunday mornings when most people are in bed, in church or on the golf course. (And where is Stephen Colbert?)

Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I is deemed among the 100 most influential, although Pope Benedict XVI, the spiritual leader of a billion Catholics, is not. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't make the cut, but Tony Blair did even though he's been out of office for nearly a year. So did Michelle Bachelet, who as you all know is the president of Chile.

As for Yoani Sanchez, Madeeha Hasan Odhaib, Jill Bolte Taylor, Mary Lou Jepsen, Mo Ibrahim and Lou Jiwei, they illustrate, if nothing else, that these kinds of ratings are very subjective.

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