Newsweek’s 50 most powerful people

Power, like money and good looks, can be fleeting. One day you’re calling the shots, the next you’re completely irrelevant…or worse.

This time a year ago, Barack Obama was an Illinois Senator with a big dream and long odds against achieving it. Today, he’s President-elect and ready to rearrange some White House furniture, while George W. Bush prepares to “retire” to his new home in Dallas.

Things change.

Newsweek set out to determine whose star was either shining brightly or on the rise as 2008 comes to an end, compiling its list of the 50 Most Powerful People in the World.

Here are the Top 10:

1. Barack Obama

2. Hu Jintao, President, China

3. Nicolas Sarkozy, President, France

4-6. Economic Triumverate: 4. Ben Bernanke 5. Jean-Claude Trichet 6. Masaaki Shirakawa

7. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister, United Kingdom

8. Angela Merkel, Chancellor, Germany

9. Vladimir Putin, former President, Russia

10. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, King, Saudi Arabia

Who else made the cut? Visit Newsweek to find out.
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