No, Barack Obama is not Harry Potter

FOR SOME REASON, a lot of people think after that his inauguration, President Obama was handed a top secret magic wand (code-named "Potter") along with the nuclear launch codes. Behold the statement of Corey O'Brien, a Democratic official in Pennsylvania and Obama supporter: "Enough with the soft approach [to fixing the economy]. He's got to say, 'I'm in charge, and I'm going to get it done with or without Congress.' " I feel his pain. But his proposed solution -- a vigorous shake of the Potter wand -- is delusional. The Washington Monthly agrees: "The public likes to think of the President of the United States, no matter who's in office, as having vast powers. He or she is "leader of the free world." He or she holds the most powerful office on the planet, making life and death decisions every day. If the president -- any president -- wants a proposal to create jobs and grow the economy, it must be within his or her power to force one into the Oval Office, if necessary, through sheer force of will." Except of course no president has this Stalin-like power, thank god. It says so, right there in the US Constitution under "separation of powers." At some point, America needs to graduate from high school, but not before re-taking -- and this time, passing -- Civics 101.