Arizona Sen. John McCain among Fortune’s greatest world leaders
Mar 26, 2017, 8:37 AM | Updated: Mar 27, 2017, 11:27 am
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Arizona’s maverick isn’t fading into the sunset. Sen. John McCain’s voice is arguably as important as ever this year.
Fortune released its list of the World’s Greatest Leaders for 2017 this week, and McCain, a six-term Senator, ranked No. 9, just after Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen and ahead of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
McCain’s importance for the upcoming year and beyond has grown considerably as the senator has become one of the most outspoken Republican critics of United States President Donald Trump.
Trump’s National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, joins McCain as the seventh-ranked member of the list for the same reasons.
As Fortune sees it, McMaster and McCain fill crucial roles when it comes to the topic of national security.
As a candidate, Donald Trump promised to make security a priority, but he took office as president with only minimal experience dealing with global threats. Hence the importance of these two military figures, one from Trump’s leadership team, and one from Congress’s Republican establishment …
McCain’s “bipartisan appeal” comes from his experience as a former Navy pilot and prisoner of war — not to mention his five-plus senate terms.
And together, those things give him a powerful voice when it comes to weighing in on Trump’s promises about keeping America safe both at home and abroad, Fortune says.
McCain has become one of the nation’s most trusted voices on defense by being both a backer of a strong military and a cautionary voice against ill-advised conflicts. As chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services, he’s uniquely positioned to help a new administration define what safety means.
Fortune’s list of the greatest leaders for 2017 goes beyond political figures.
Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein tops the list after his team’s historic World Series victory. Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, comedian and producer Samantha Bee, plus Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk are included in the top-50 rankings.
So what does it take to make the list? Here is how Fortune put it together.