Where are the Leaders?

Casting your eye around a troubled world a few years back and you'd have to admit that there were a few actually halfway competent leaders in view: Lula in Brazil, Manmohan Singh in India, Angela Merkel in Germany, Kevin Rudd in Australia, maybe (we held our breath) Barack Obama in the United States.

And where are we now?  Lula is gone, albeit an honorable departure: his successor is still too new for an appraisal, I should say.  Rudd vanished in a heartbeat--were we dazzled and confused by the fact that he speaks Mandarin?    Merkel may have lost her nerve.  Singh seems to have grown old and exhausted, although heaven knows he still looks better than the alternative.  Obama has surely disappointed some of those who had highest hopes for him--though heaven knows that he (and Daffy Duck) still look better than any of the self-proposed supplanters.

And the new names are--?  Have we come to the point where we are pointing to Naoto Kan of Japan as perhaps not as bad as we feared he might be?  

Hey, This Isn't a Popularity Contest (Whups, Pardon, I Guess It Is)

Radio France International ranks Obama as the "most popular" leader, and FP offers a justly acerb acerb critique of the methodology. Right enough, but it's also a useful reminder of how American leaders are often more (John F. Kennedy) or less (George W. Bush) popular away from home. Cf. the lunatic enthusiasm for Chairman Mao among pampered UMC westerners in the 60s. On the same theme, I guess I'm a bit surprised that Hu Jintao came across with a bad rep, considering that I suspect that the ordinary westerner-on-the-street probably has no idea who he is.

And speaking of not knowing who he is, here's a guy that probably belongs in my rotisserie league competition of for "best" (huh?) world leader--Kevin Rudd of Australia, until lately no more than a name to me, apparently held in high regard by Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, perhaps even Hu Jintao to whom, by reports, Rudd can talk back in Mandarin.

Oh, and I Meant to Add: If you're looking for a world leader who is truly popular in his own country, I suspect the champ might be Vladimi Putin.