CLINTON 'MOST INFLUENTIAL MAN IN THE WORLD'

Haters of the former president will hurry to say such intelligent things as "barf alert" and "typical MSM crap." But in the next second they will heap scorn on Bill Clinton, proving their enduring fixation with the man.

Actually, Esquire magazine has crowned him The Man -- the most influential one in the world.

As Reuters reports:

The magazine has designated him as "the most powerful agent of change in the world" despite his lack of electoral standing and the fact he was laid low by a heart attack ahead of last year's presidential election.

The magazine highlights Clinton's accomplishments in its December issue, which goes on newsstands on Thursday, profiling the world's "Best and Brightest" men and women.

Since leaving office, Clinton has been so active that his post-presidency amounts to "a third term" for the Democrat who held the White House from 1992 to 2000, the magazine said. He has tackled global issues from AIDS, poverty and global warming to the recovery from last December's Indian Ocean tsunami.

Esquire editor David Granger argued that Clinton was poised to become "something like a president of the world or at least a president of the world's non-governmental organizations."

Like Franklin Roosevelt, Bill Clinton will be beloved and despised until the day he dies.