I’ve grown used to the fact that an average newspaper story on President Bush goes something like this:

Adolph Hitler President Bush goose-stepped his lying, chimp-like little self to the pressroom today to announce another of his completely idiotic ideas…

Whereas the average Obama story goes something like this:

President John F. Kennedy President-elect Obama and his lovely wife Jackie Michelle graced the press corps with their presence today, causing even hardened journalists to break spontaneously into song …

So I wasn’t surprised to read a story in the paper that breathlessly predicts that “Obama may use executive powers to undo some Bush policies.” But I was surprised to see this little paragraph hiding halfway through:

Obama was elected on a promise of change, but the nature of the job makes it difficult for presidents to do much that has an immediate impact on the lives of average people.

AIEEEE! Where in the world has THAT little bit of common sense been hiding for the past eight years? I thought maybe I was the only one who had to attend Social Studies classes in junior high school and learn that the president has limits to what he can do. All we’ve been hearing since 2000 is: “Gas prices up — what is Bush going to do?” “Global warming threatens polar bears — Congress calls on Bush to respond” “Brad Pitt dumps Jennifer Aniston — when is Bush going to take action??” But now that His Barack-ness is ascending, we all have to be reasonable.

Well, whatever. It’s just human nature, I suppose. We see the one main guy and instantly want him to be our Chief Executive Officer, Head Butler and All-around Rock Star. A president’s actual duties aren’t all that complicated (casting our mind over this page in Wikipedia): He appoints federal judges, ambassadors and Cabinet members; he can’t directly introduce legislation, but he can steer things a little bit, and he has the power of veto; he can negotiate treaties; he’s the commander in chief of the military, but he can’t declare war.

So even if it’s a little bit late to recall that a president isn’t a king or a demi-god, better late than never. One of the criticisms that conservatives had of Bush was that he  overstepped the bounds of the office. So in spite of all the yelling from the media, Bush was actually doing MORE than he should’ve been doing, coming darn close to redefining the office. For goodness’ sake let’s not tempt Obama to go even further with a lot of unprincipled whining. Most likely he’d never know — another limitation of the job is that you’re not equipped with omniscience — but it will make a difference in our personal ability to experience happiness. Unreal expectations always do. In that way, a president does affect the average man immediately, but then, no more so than any other average man you pin your hopes on.