50 most inspiring authors in the world

Poets and Writers has published a list of most inspiring authors in the world. Not a great list -of course,US centric - but it's heartening to see some of my favourite authors in the list, like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Haruki Murakami, J.D Salinger. Also interesting are the comments about the authors.

Gabriel García Márquez
He makes the most magical of circumstances believable. And this nonsense that he's finished with writing? Don't believe it.

Haruki Murakami
He consistently demonstrates how far the narrative form can bend and proves that a story with surrealist tendencies can be both moving and compelling.

Salman Rushdie
Possession of The Satanic Verses will still get you arrested in much of the Muslim world. It's probably worth it.

J. D. Salinger
He found a way to write characters, dialogue, and scenes that seem effortless. And he's managed to stay hidden for decades—how is that even possible in the twenty-first century?

But why Barack Obama? Is he really a writer in the sense others in the list are?