# Leader of the free world? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 11, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leader-of-the-free-world/49505 "2001-01-11T13:46:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mwg1234](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mwg1234](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mwg1234)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leader-of-the-free-world/49505/1 "2001-01-11T13:46:43Z")
Here in the good ol’ US of A, it is quite the cliche to refer to our president as the “leader of the free world.” Question for you non-Americans – do you view you the US president as such? Seems to me that’s kind of insulting to every other sovereign nation to claim out guy is the “real” leader. Is that more or less and Americanized title, or is it used elsewhere? ---
**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leader-of-the-free-world/49505/2 "2001-01-11T15:51:01Z")
I am an American, but I have heard the Prez referred to by foreign correspondents and government officials in this manner. Of course, these were from _friendly_ foreign sources. I think in much of the Arab world and a few other places here and there they might refer to the US Prez a tad less kindly. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2001, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leader-of-the-free-world/49505/3 "2001-01-11T16:20:47Z")
This thread was cross posted to GQ. I moved that copy to IMHO, and I’m going to take the liberty of closing this one. The live thread is [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=54938).