# Pope, President and Secretary General **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 22, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758 "2012-05-22T21:17:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758/1 "2012-05-22T21:17:05Z")
Something struck me today when watching a news segment featuring former American president Bill Clinton but its something I’ve been thinking about regarding another prominent figure. Like them or loath them back in the day President Bush, Pope John Paul II and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan were giants in the world media, you could barely turn on the television or look at a newspaper without a picture of one or the other _(or all three)_ appearing somewhere. They were high profile and controversial figures. If I had to use one adjective to describe the current US President, Pope and UN Secretary General it would be ‘low key’, they don’t seem to arouse nearly the same interest or media attention as their predecessers. I’m certain President Obama, Pope Benedict and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon are of the same calibre as their predecessors but they certainly don’t seem to have the same presence. At least thats one ruggedly handsome individuals opinion looking at things from the perspective of the happy people’s contested statelet of Irland du Nord… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758/2 "2012-05-22T21:32:32Z")
Pshew. For a moment there, I though this would be the worst game of marry-fuck-kill _ever_. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758/3 "2012-05-22T21:33:02Z")
I don’t agree with the premise. I see President Obama in the news a lot. (Especially with this being an election year.) But I hardly see the UN Secretary General or the Pope. Caveat: I can’t speak to anything but U.S. news coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758/4 "2012-05-22T21:40:46Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I don’t agree with the premise. > > I see President Obama in the news a lot. (Especially with this being an election year.) > > But I hardly see the UN Secretary General or the Pope. > > Caveat: I can’t speak to anything but U.S. news coverage. Yeah, from a non-US international perspective Obama seems pretty low-key as well. I imagine he’s still all over the US media. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pope-president-and-secretary-general/622758/5 "2012-05-22T21:43:20Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > Like them or loath them back in the day President Bush, Pope John Paul II and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan were giants in the world media, you could barely turn on the television or look at a newspaper without a picture of one or the other _(or all three)_ appearing somewhere. They were high profile and controversial figures. John Paul II was an incredibly charismatic figure who played a huge role in world events. Benedict is, well, _not_ charismatic, and doesn’t seem to have the desire or the ability to influence world politics that JPII did. Part of that is because the events of this time aren’t as susceptible to papal influence, part is personality.