Here's hard evidence of what the people at TIME magazine want you to think, and how they're trying to shape your thinking to conform to theirs. 
How can they publish a list of the "100 most influential people in the world" and leave off the President of the United States?
The President of Venezuela made their list, as did Osama bin Laden and even Fidel Castro's brother, Raul (though not Fidel). Rosie O'Donnell is there with Leonardo diCaprio, and of course Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. Al Gore is an automatic--and they've promoted him from 'politician' to 'thinker'.
But no President of the United States! Like him or hate him, you cannot deny the influence wielded by President George W. Bush--unless you have an agenda of trying to persuade people to shun, ignore and marginalize him. Only the most radical of leftists have such an agenda--and of course TIME magazine.
TIME's is not a list of who IS the most influential, but rather a list of who they want you to follow. It forecasts who TIME will quote with approval, just to bring you around to their East Coast elite view of the world. So the only real surprise is that they also left off Barbra Streisand!
Click here to view TIME's list, which they divided into categories rather than numbering 1 to 100:
