HOH’s One-Minute Recess: Going Global
Looks like more Members of Congress need to put on their thinking caps.
Foreign Policy magazine has released its annual list of “Top 100 Global Thinkers,” and just three Members of Congress make the cut.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) places the highest among Members at No. 19, with the magazine citing him “for inspiring the thinking man’s Tea Party.”
Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) tie at No. 34 “for being the adults on Capitol Hill.” The magazine says the chairman and ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee operate the “lone outpost of at least occasional bipartisanship” on the Hill.
To be fair, a few more former Members of Congress make the list, including two famous ex-Senators: President Barack Obama, who lands at No. 3, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who places 13th alongside her husband, President Bill Clinton.
A few honorees share personal tidbits, including Gen. David Petraeus, who places 8th for overseeing the war effort in Afghanistan. The general says his “worst idea” was that “I would end up not being able to contact my wife before President Obama announced my new position in a Rose Garden statement.”
The best idea? “That my wife would nonetheless be characteristically understanding and supportive and that she wouldn’t place her cell phone in her purse the next time she puts it on vibrate,” he says.
So who’s No. 1 on the list? Billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett for their extensive philanthropy work.