Your Top 5 Favorite World Leaders Right Now

[Peter the Lefty]

I guess I'd have to say (in no particular order):

Bohuslav Sobotka
Jose Mujica
Werner Faymann
Michele Bachelet
Joseph Muscat

It sucks to be a social democrat right now. 

[TNF]

Jose Mujica
Rafael Correa
Evo Morales
Nicholas Maduro

And I'm not really sure who else. The Latin American Left is really the only thriving portion of it at the moment, it would seem, though the revival of the far-left in Europe (and to a lesser extent, in the United States) is certainly promising.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Jose Mujica and I don't know enough about any other leftist leaders.

Nicholas Maduro

Why? I know nothing about him other than that he's apparently a crappier version of Chavez who thinks the latter appeared to him in the form of a bird.

[moderatevoter]

Just a clarification - are you looking for someone in a 'head of state' type of role?

[H. Ross Peron]

In no particular order:
Francois Hollande
Shinzo Abe
Paul Kagame
Barack Obama
Michele Bachelet

[Blue3]

Jose Mujica

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Jose Mujica
Elio Di Rupo
Matteo Renzi

don't know who else really. Even Renzi is really only here because he's better than anybody else in Italian politics.

Oh yeah

the queen

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Jose Mujica and I don't know enough about any other leftist leaders.

Nicholas Maduro

Why? I know nothing about him other than that he's apparently a crappier version of Chavez who thinks the latter appeared to him in the form of a bird.

Maduro's an incompetent dolt but, by default, far better than most other world leaders.

[Cranberry]

Werner Faymann

Not really Faymann? That guy does nothing but smiling dumbly, really.

Puh... It's a tough one.

I kinda like Obama as a person. Else? Well no one I know of...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Mujica
Obama
Bachelet
Renzi
Di Rupo

[Niemeyerite]

1. Pepe Mujica
----
Big gap
----
2. Dilma Rouseff
3. Michelle Bachelet
4. Barack Obama
5. Matteo Renzi

Honorable mentions: Elio Di Rupo, Rafael Correa, Raúl Castro and, yes, François Hollande and the Danish PM (at least they're supposed to be social-democrats...).

[Lief 🗽]

Obama
Rousseff
Mujica
Abe
Morales

The European social democrats (like Renzi) seem like a bunch of austerity-loving, worker-hating right-wingers to me.

[TNF]

Obama
Rousseff
Mujica
Abe
Morales

The European social democrats (like Renzi) seem like a bunch of austerity-loving, worker-hating right-wingers to me.

Oh my, the cognitive dissonance here is astounding.

[Peter the Lefty]

Obama
Rousseff
Mujica
Abe
Morales

The European social democrats (like Renzi) seem like a bunch of austerity-loving, worker-hating right-wingers to me.

Oh my, the cognitive dissonance here is astounding.

You forgot to put Dilma's name in bold too.

[Lief 🗽]

Obama
Rousseff
Mujica
Abe
Morales

The European social democrats (like Renzi) seem like a bunch of austerity-loving, worker-hating right-wingers to me.

Oh my, the cognitive dissonance here is astounding.

Yeah, come back to me when Obama has complete control over the legislature in a country with a strong national government without centuries of racial animosity driving opposition against everything he does.

I'm also not really sure why you think Obama hates workers. In fact, he's done a lot through executive orders to expand workers rights where he can. Not to mention expanding healthcare to millions of workers who didn't have it before. Of course he didn't magically force the EFCA act through a Congress full of anti-labor Democrats, so he must hate workers.

[TNF]

Obama
Rousseff
Mujica
Abe
Morales

The European social democrats (like Renzi) seem like a bunch of austerity-loving, worker-hating right-wingers to me.

Oh my, the cognitive dissonance here is astounding.

Yeah, come back to me when Obama has complete control over the legislature in a country with a strong national government without centuries of racial animosity driving opposition against everything he does.

I'm also not really sure why you think Obama hates workers. In fact, he's done a lot through executive orders to expand workers rights where he can. Not to mention expanding healthcare to millions of workers who didn't have it before. Of course he didn't magically force the EFCA act through a Congress full of anti-labor Democrats, so he must hate workers.

Obama did have complete control over the legislature from 2009 to 2010. He actually had more control than any President since Jimmy Carter had over the legislature, as a matter of fact. Racial animosity doesn't excuse his utter lack of ability to pass anything meaningful on behalf of his supposed constituents; the fact that he used those majorities to pass a massive welfare bill for the insurance industry, continue the bank bailouts, and expand the War in Afghanistan speaks volumes as to who it is Obama actually supports.

It may stem from the fact that Obama continues to send workers to die in Afghanistan, or the fact that he continues to give lip service to their struggles without actually backing them up. EFCA didn't even see the light of day. Obama signed a bill making it harder to organize railroad workers. He signed off on so-called health care reform that taxed union health plans and made every person who doesn't want to become a captive audience member for the insurance companies subject to a fine. He did jack sh**t during the Wisconsin recall struggle and hasn't lifted a finger to stop RTW legislation from becoming law in Indiana or Michigan. He's been MIA on labor issues throughout his Presidency, and his pathetic attempt at a $10.10 an hour minimum wage (which will not be anywhere near a living wage) doesn't make up for it, especially given that, when he had a majority in Congress, he didn't even try to raise the minimum wage when it was clear then that it also needed to be raised.

Obama is the most anti-labor Democratic President at least since Grover Cleveland.

[Donerail]

In order:
Francis, assuming he counts as a world leader
Rouhani
Mujica
Bachelet
Abe I guess, despite his nationalism

[Lief 🗽]

Obama did not have complete control over the legislature from 2009-2010. Were you paying attention to what was happening in Congress at the time? The Democrats didn't have sixty seats in the Senate until Specter switched and Franken was eventually seated months after the election. Even when they did have sixty votes, in practice, with Byrd's and Kennedy's illness they couldn't break Republican filibusters. And that sixty vote majority was comprised of right-wing Democratic senators from right to work states like Arkansas, Virginia, Louisiana, etc. You had Senators from deep blue states, like Joe Lieberman, come out against the public option or expanding medicare or a national health insurance exchange that would have allowed lower prices and stronger regulation.  Do you remember the Affordable Care Act's passage? Because even the watered-down, public-option-less ACA barely passed. I think it passed by two or three votes in the House. Obama is not some magician that can force congresspeople to vote for things they don't want to vote for. Nor does he have any input in what state legislatures are doing. I know you people like to pretend he's some dictator, but he's not. Even if he wanted to "lift a finger", he has absolutely no power over the Indiana and Michigan state governments.

EFCA was never going to pass. Ever. The Democrat's ten-seat majority in 2009 (down to nine seats in early 2010) was made up of anti-labor Democrats from right-to-work states. I don't know what you expected Obama to do to these guys to suddenly make them support the most pro-labor bill since the 1930s. Same story with raising the minimum wage in 2009. It actually was raised in July 2009, to $7.25, in line with the 2007 act. If you think there were sixty votes for raising it again, by three dollars, in the middle of an economic collapse, you're delusional. You're complaining that Obama failed to do things that were not possible to do. And you're saying he hates workers because he supports raising the minimum wage, but not to the astronomic and politically unfeasible levels you want him to. You're saying he hates workers because he expanded affordable (in many cases, free) health insurance to millions of them, but not in the politically unfeasible ways you wanted him to. Comparing this to laws making it easier to fire workers, dramatically cutting pensions, raising the retirement age, etc. that are being passed by European social democrats is stupid.

[Simfan34]

This is tough. There are very few great leaders.

Lee Hsien Loong
Thein Sein (I mean, who really thought Burma would democratise?)
Toomas Hendrik Ilves
David Cameron
Irakli Garibashvili
Enrique Pena Nieto

Also why does Lief like Shinzo Abe? He's doing a good job but you'd think the nationalist stuff would not be Lief's type.

[Lief 🗽]

Yeah, the nationalism stuff is gross. But I still like him. And I didn't want my list to just be left-wing Latin Americans and Obama.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I feel the same way about Abe funnily enough. I never thought I'd particularly like a right-wing nationalist Japanese leader, but he hasn't been all that bad economically and it's nice to know Japan's at least led by somebody.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

[1] David Cameron
[2] Angela Merkel
[3] Stephen Harper
[4] Tony Abbott
[5] Park Geun-hye

Edit: What is with the love of Raul Castro? We are talking about a man who makes Putin look like Obama.

[Lief 🗽]

Raul Castro has invaded neighboring countries? Who knew.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Raul Castro has invaded neighboring countries? Who knew.

Putin's claim on Crimea is fairly legitimate, though I am quite worried about his designs on Eastern Ukraine. Just because Putin jailed some edgy punk rockers for invading a church service and defiling the alter doesn't make him worse than a man who with his brother have jailed and killed tens of thousands of their citizens.

[Sol]

Matteo Renzi
Rafael Correa
Evo Morales
José Mujica

I can't really think of anyone else. Maduro's a thug, and Rouseff, Bachelet, and Obama are all neoliberals to various degrees, though Obama's probably the best of the three (though I haven't been following Bachelet lately, IIRC she was swept in by leftie student protesters, so maybe she's better).