“Fortune” magazine just released its “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” list and CBS “Face the Nation” host Bob Schieffer immediately found it extraordinary that President Obama was not mentioned.
Speaking to Fortune’s Leigh Gallagher on Sunday March 23, Scheiffer noted how “Barack Obama did not make the list. Also -- nor did Vladimir Putin. How did you come up with this list?” [See video below.]
To the dismay of Schieffer, Gallagher explained “We looked at leadership this year. We looked for people, leaders who changed a paradigm. Really disrupted. Lead in a way that changed the game.”
It’s astonishing that Schieffer’s first concern was why Obama was omitted from the list of greatest leaders, and showed no sense of objectivity in his commentary. The CBS News host’s concern followed that of NBC’s “Today” which on Friday found it “surprising” that President Obama didn’t make the cut of greatest leaders. Much to the dismay of Schieffer, simply because he is the President of the United States does not guarantee President Obama be considered a “great leader.”
See relevant transcript below.
CBS
Face the Nation
March 23, 2014
10:29 a.m. Eastern
BOB SCHIEFFER: I want to shift a bit because, Leigh your magazine had a very interesting story you picked the top 50 greatest leaders in the world today. I noticed Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, the shortstop managed to make the list. I noticed that Barack Obama did not make the list. Also -- nor did Vladimir Putin. How did you come up with this list?
LEIGH GALLAGHER: Well, we were really -- this is a new list for us and we really looked at leadership from—we looked at leadership this year. We looked for people, leaders who changed a paradigm. Really disrupted. Lead in a way that changed the game. And we looked at a number of exceptional leaders. So just because someone is not on this list does not mean we’re saying they are not a good leader. But we really looked at real game changers and there’s only one—
SCHIEFFER: In their specific area.
GALLAGHER: In their area, sphere of influence, exactly. And there’s only one sitting head of state on this list and that is Angela Merkel who is going to play a critical role going forward. I do think that if Europe can partner with us and issue sanctions that are stronger than what it’s done already, I think that that could be real game changing example of leadership. But it runs the gamut. We have Angelina Jolie. We have the Dalai Llama, so there’s a lot.
