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International News Title: Obama, drubbed at polls, now dropped from top spot in global power ranking While Forbes magazine still terms President Obama the 'Leader of the Free World, the title of most powerful now goes to China's Hu Jintao. Washington Just in case President Obama wasnt feeling deflated enough by the drubbing he got in Tuesdays midterm elections, now theres this: Forbes magazine has decided hes no longer the worlds most powerful person. That would be Hu Jintao, president of China, the American business magazine declares in its annual most powerful global ranking this week. Mr. Obama, whom Forbes grants still holds the unofficial title of Leader of the Free World, fell to No. 2 in the power rankings behind the leader of the worlds most populous (and a rare remaining communist) nation after occupying the top slot last year. Saudi King Abdullah jumped six places to land the No. 3 position, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin fell one notch to No. 4 this year. Pope Benedict XVI is No. 5. Forbes editors say they based their elevation of Mr. Hu on the fact that he is leader of one-fifth of the worlds population, that he presides over the worlds largest army, and that under Hu, China has rocketed to second place on the list of the worlds largest economies, with no signs of throttling back. The magazine also pays homage to Hus extraordinary power at home, noting that Hu can divert rivers, build cities, jail dissidents and censor [the] Internet without meddling from pesky bureaucrats [and] courts. By implication, much of Obamas global power derives more from intangibles like Americas moral leadership and the American presidents bully pulpit although Forbes does recognize that Obama is still commander-in-chief of the worlds largest and deadliest military and leader of the worlds largest and most dynamic economy. Still, Obamas dethroning from the top ranking suggests that, while he may have used those intangibles to good results in 2009 his Cairo speech, winning the Nobel Peace Prize his international powers took a beating in 2010. Some China experts were quick to suggest that Forbes was showing its ignorance of the Chinese political system by declaring Hu the worlds most powerful person. Hu, they say, derives his power from his role as one of nine members of the Chinese Communist Partys Politburo Standing Committee, not from being president a role whose power, they say, pales in comparison to that of Communist Chinas leaders of the past. In any case, the Forbes list was timely not only because of the midterm election results, but also because it came out just as Obama was undertaking the longest overseas trip of his presidency to Asia, and with widespread disquiet about Chinas rise in the region underpinning the 10-day, four-country sojourn. Obama is set to meet with Hu Nov. 11 in South Korea on the sidelines of a G20 summit. The two leaders are expected to discuss North Korea, but the Forbes rankings seem unlikely to figure on the agenda.
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