The votes are in and again they fall in Annise Parker's favor.
Time Magazine released its 100 List of 2010's most influential people in the world. (Oddly, the 100 List this year includes 124 people.) Of the 25 individuals chosen from the 'leaders' category, Parker made the list at lucky No. 13. She's joined by such names as Barack Obama, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Nancy Pelosi, Glenn Beck and Scott Brown.
While we are thrilled our hometown girl made the list, it would be nice if her brief bio could have been written by another celebrity, like Ted Nugent waxing on Sarah Palin and Tony Blair talking up Salam Fayyad.
No one could be recruited to give two lines to the importance of the first openly gay mayor of a major American city? Bill White? Barney Frank? Ellen DeGeneres? Nobody?
Which is not to say Time writer Hilary Hylton didn't get the the essence of Parker's practical, competent — dare we say almost boring? — persona.
"It's not every Democrat who quotes Calvin Coolidge after spending 100 days in office as mayor of Houston," Hylton writes. "But then Annise Parker, 53, has never fit the mold. She's a demure, pearl-wearing lesbian businesswoman with three kids and a longtime partner.
"When she quoted Silent Cal in her first state of the city address, in April, saying, 'There is no dignity quite so impressive and no independence quite so important as living within your means,' it was a sign she would focus on her city's $100 million budget shortfall during her time in office,"Time continues. "And so she has. The fourth largest city in the U.S. is having its belt dramatically tightened. 'I feel like a mom planning a family budget,' she says. 'We're going to make sure we still have plenty of healthy vegetables, but we might have to cut back on dessert for a while.' "
