The 2011 TIME 100 Poll

Cast your votes for the leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes that you think are the most influential people in the world. Though official voting for inclusion on the TIME 100 list has now closed (with Rain as the 2011 readers' choice), users can continue to vote for their favorites until the final list, selected by our editors, is revealed on Thursday, April 21st

TIME 100 Candidates

Barack Obama

By TIME StaffMonday, Apr. 04, 2011
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Silvia Izquierdo / AP

Age: 49
Occupation: President of the United States
Previous TIME 100 appearances: 5

It's during times of crisis, not calm, when a President's influence peaks. In 2011, a tepid economic recovery threatens the vitality of the nation as well as President Obama's prospects for re-election. A seemingly intractable budget fight in Congress could derail his legislative agenda. The Arab Spring has dramatically realigned the Middle East, and with it, U.S. foreign policy. And the fog of war — now a decade old in Afghanistan and just beginning to gather over Libya — clouds Obama's hopes for a peacetime presidency. There are few things more important this year than Barack Obama's leadership, or the limitations thereof.

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