The winner is: Sean Penn.

It appears as if Mr. Penn is the new Henry Kissinger; that is, the new king of shuttle diplomacy. Penn met with the “great visionary and humanitarian” Hugo Chavez this week. (Didn’t Penn once call So Damn Insane, the “deposed” leader of Iraq, a visionary and humanitarian?)

According to media reports, Penn informed Chavez that he would soon be meeting with President Obama. (I wonder if I could get a meeting with the president as easily?) This inspired Chavez to offer Penn some advice which he could relay to the president. (Obviously, the phone system does not seem to work well in Venezuela.) I suspect that Chavez expects a report back from Penn after he meets with the president.

For bringing back shuttle diplomacy, Mr. Penn truly deserves to be the recipient of the fifth AS Award.