The lives and ideas of the world`s most influential people

TIME -May 8, 2006  Special issue

1. 100 Leaders & Revolutionaries

George W. Bush -Trying to Slavage an Administration

George W. Bush subscribes to the Great Man theory, the notion that bold leaders rather than impersonal economic and social forces shape the course of history. “It is human choices that move events,” he triumphantly decleared at his second Inaugural, just 16 months–and a political eternity–ago.

But events have a way of slipping the reins of human control, even of someone as powerful as the U.S. President. So Bush, 59, who launched his second term with the outsize goals of ending tyranny（n.暴政，专制） in the world and establishing a permanent Republican majority in America, finds himself with public-disapproval ratings higher than any other President`s since Richard Nixon chose resignation over impeachment(n.弹劾). The causes of bush`s fall from favor are multiple and compounding(n.混合)：Huricane Katrina, high gas prices, the Jack Abramoff scandal, the CIA-leak investigation, the Dubai Ports deal, a bulging(膨胀) deficit and, above all, Iraq. An invasion the President sold as vital to national security is now seen by most Americans as a war of choice–and a bad choice.

Political recovery won`t be easy. Other recent Presidents–Reagan, Clinton–weathered second-term scandals and left weathered second-term scandals and left office with restored popularity. But Bush`s fate hinges on an unpopular war, already going into its fourth year, that he probably can`t–or won`t–quit without a victory that may be unobtainable. Later than most Presidents, he has shaken up(震惊) his staff, but he has refused to fire his Defense Secretary, whose head is most in demand. And he faces the prospect of losing one or both houses of Congress to the Democrats in November.

Yet Bush`s time is far from over. Two issues–immigration at home, Iran abroad–pose challenges but also opportunities ofr successful leadership. And democracy may yet find a home in the Arab world. Bush is already assured a large place in history. What he does next will decide how he is judged by it. —-By James Carney

Jigme Singye Wangchuck–The Surprising King of Bhutan

KING JIGME SINGYE WANG-chuck, great-grandson of Bhutan`s first hereditary monarch and once the world`s youngest King (when he came to power in 1972), rules his people more in the spirit of Buddha than of more worldly princes. To this day there is not a traffic light in the Himalayan kingdom, by law everyone must wear traditional 14th century clothing and the number of fans who pile into a college football game. Television and the Internet have, it is true, arrived with 21st century, and a few superluxe hotels are now coming up around Bhutan, but what hits you when you touch down(降落) in its only airport is the silence.

Alnost 30 years ago, long before “positive psychology” became a boom in the West, King Jigme, now 50, suggested that nations be measured by “gross national happiness”; the rich are not always happy, after all, while the happy generally consider themselves rich. Four months ago, he launched an even more radical idea: self-deposition(主动放弃王位). To urge his people toward independence, he announced that he would step down(下台，辞职) two years from now (his son would officially take over) and that his country would hold its first national democratic elections.

King Jigma–who gave up absolute power in 1998 and last year sent every household in the land a new draft constitution that allowed for his impeachment–is setting a quietly revolutionary precedent(n.先例). If most politicians are inherently(a.天性的，固有的) suspect because they seem so eager to grab power and so reluctant to surrender(v./n.交出，放弃，投降) it, what does one make of a leader who voluntarily gives up his position, as if placing his people`s needs before his own?—-By Pico Iyer