USA Today and Gallup recently released their yearly list of most admired men/women. In sticking with what is, apparently, the status quo, President Bush was named as the most admired man among over 1000 adults above the age of 18. The article states that sitting US Presidents are always named as the most admired man. What makes this result all the more fascinating is the extraordinarily low approval rating that the President also carries around. Only 30% of Americans approve of the job he is doing, yet he is the most admired man? What gives?
Well, this little revelation made me think…who would I name to this list. So, I came up with a top ten. The criteria was pretty simple for me. No family mentions. I admire the heck out of my father – probably more so than any of the people on my lists…but it is kinda corny and not nearly as debatable. So here is my top ten most admired men. I’ve also taken the liberty to include the USA Today/Gallup Poll results for comparison sakes. Here we go…
Most Admired Man:
USA Today/Gallup Poll
1. President George W. Bush – 10%
2. President Bill Clinton – 8%
3. Al Gore – 6%
4. Barack Obama – 5%
5. Reverend Billy Graham – 3%
6. Nelson Mandela – 3%
7. President George H.W. Bush – 2%
8 (tie). Bill Gates – 2%
8 (tie). Pope Benedict XVI – 2%
8 (tie). President Jimmy Carter – 2%
Friend/Relative – 4%, Other – 26%, None/No Opinion – 12%
My 2 cents:
1. Reverend Billy Graham – a man of truly strong faith and dedication to his beliefs (and a fellow Charlottean!)
2. Nelson Mandela – a man that stood tall against injustice and never lost hope for his dreams
3. Bill Gates – say what you will about Microsoft, but the man is a genius and, together with his wife Melinda, is a great philanthropist
4. Bono – a tireless soldier in the fight against AIDS and poverty. Nevermind being the lead man in the 2nd greatest band of all time (but that is another list for another day, ain’t it?)
5. Bush 41 – you have to admire a man that chooses to jump out of a plane for fun in his 80’s. Oh and also for all of the work he and Clinton have done in the wake of two horrible natural disasters.
6. John McCain – tough as nails, this one. Survived being a POW and is still mixing it up in the presidential race.
7. Bill Clinton – a polarizing figure, politically, it is hard to deny his charitable works and uncanny charisma.
8. Tiger Woods – best golfer in the world? check. course designer? check. dad? check. a charitable heart as big as his drives? check.
9. Mike Huckabee – another strong man of faith who isn’t afraid to show it…but who also build his policies not solely on his religious beliefs.
10. Barack Obama – a refreshing, optimistic voice in a rather cynical time.
Oh so close…Colin Powell, Tony Blair, Charles Steger (Virginia Tech President)
So there you have it, my list of most admired men. What’s your list look like?
5 comments
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December 30, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Vicky
Oooh this is thought-provoking. I will make my list as I travel today.
January 3, 2008 at 3:29 pm
tgaw
Okay– I have half. Here are five people that I admire, in no particular order:
1) Joe Mast
Joe Mast is a Amish guy who lives near New Castle, Pennsylvania. I got to visit his home a couple of times. The man is very philosophical and capitivating. He comes from a totally different world, but his view on our society and politics makes perfect sense to me. And he is brilliant. He is a wood-worker and a metal-worker. How does he do with without electricity? He has a coal burning engine and an intricate network of pulleys, belts and mobius strips in his workroom to run all the machinery. It always amazes me how much more creative and innovative we can be when faced with obstacles or restrictions.
2) Chrystie Sawyer
Chrystie is my cousin’s wife. My cousin is in the Army and whereever they go (including Alaska), Chrystie makes the best of it. Now, when my cousin got deployed to Iraq, Chrystie stayed in New York and raised their two small boys. Her optimism and her sweetness and her positive attitude impresses me. One example that I will remember for sometime is when my cousin’s tour got extended, Chrystie had a remarkable take on it:
“our reunion will be that much sweeter when he comes home.”
She had every right to be negative or angry. But she found a positive way to look at it.
3) Margaretha Sawyer
This is my grandmother. I look up to a number of things. First her persistance in walking. She used to walk a mile every day and I think now at 92, she still walks on a treadmill daily. She raised 7 children and is still very active in her church. Each year she sews 60+ Ragggedy Ann dolls for her church’s bazaar. To this day, my grandmother wonders if she should have studied something besides sewing in college, but she did amazing things with it. She’s made numerous outfits for herself and family members (including my wedding dress!!!). Once I went to church with her and you could see her influence everywhere. She was turning in a doll she sewed for a charity, she had stitched one of the intricate panels behind the altar and she had made the cushions that people kneel on when they get communion. She could have studied something else in college, but I think her destiny was with her craft.
4) Huey Newton
Huey Newton is the co-founder of the Black Panther Party. I’ve heard some people (cough cough Larry) describe him as a terrorist and I do sometimes have difficulty with his later drug problems, but I think the work he did with the Black Panther Party was still brilliant. I found Revolutionary Suicide to be a powerful piece of writing. Far from being a terrorist organization, the Black Panther Party did amazing work for the African-American Community. They organized sickle-cell testing, educational breakfasts. Long before there was the Miranda Rights, Huey Newton would read outloud of law books and circulate flyers to inform people of their rights. I enjoy that he was well read– reading his words expose me to other great thinkers. Finally, the way he took advantage of his time in prison from his reading to his writing to his exercise was a superb way to turn a set-back into a turning point (Malcolm-X did a great job at this as well).
5) Ken Barrish
This is a man I worked with on-site through my work. And he makes my list because of a single statement. He worked many years in the mining industry. My co-worker, Deanna and I were working on-site with him one week in 2000 to help the company prepare for their ISO certification. At one point Deanna said to Ken, “This must be pretty stressful, getting all this documentation ready for your audit.”
Ken looked at her and with a gentle voice said, “No, in my work, I have dealt with fatalaties. So getting documents ready is nothing.”
That really did open my eyes and I remember his statement frequently. It is easy to get stressed out in your daily job duties and flustered about deadlines and this and that. But really, when you step back and look at it– it could be worse. No many what database is giving me trouble or what DLL is getting an infinite loop, I am very blessed to NOT have to deal with fatalities in my line of work.
I may never know another thing about Ken Barrish, but what he said will stick with me.
February 12, 2008 at 2:09 am
Sour Swinger
@TGAW
I had no idea that was Chrystie’s reaction to the extended deployment. Now that I think about it, I don’t quite remember what she said. Though I remember she did keep a positive outlook.
Definitely amazing to see a 92 yrs old still walking. Uncle Chuck is going just as strong. Makes ya wonder how long we’re live. LoL. Hell they lived through the depression. We had it easy compared to them. I’m sure we’ll hit 3 digits.
February 12, 2008 at 8:53 am
tgaw
@Sour Swinger – Wow, how do you end up posting on every blog I read?
September 10, 2009 at 8:30 am
sandrar
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.