The president of the United States can fire nuclear missiles in any direction he likes but he cannot ban gas guzzling automobiles with wheels bigger than Texas.
The irony facing every occupant of the Oval Office is that although he or she is perhaps the most powerful leader in the world, they are hamstrung at home by a system of checks and balances which could have been devised by Franz Kafka.
This phenomenon of paltry power on the doorstep but colossal influence overseas has encouraged many presidents to globetrot and stay away from the deep quagmire of domestic politics.
President Obama has gamely ventured into this swamp and is determined to finally give America the type of healthcare system you would expect to find in the world’s biggest economy. He has also inherited a war in Afghanistan which has the potential to derail domestic and international ambitions.
Despite these monumental challenges, he appears to have grasped where the true power of the presidency is found.
Unlike a Prime Minister who leads a strictly whipped party towards specific goals, he is a head of state with the greater power to command the public imagination.
When Presidents Clinton and Bush got locked in battles of legislation their presidencies were stripped of velocity. But a president can use the pulpit of the White House to create a culture where people like the idea of free healthcare or slower climate change and politicians compete to make this happen.
His presidential campaign was not noted for its spectacular policy pledges, but he himself came to symbolise a change in the values and ambitions of the nation.
And with his first state dinner, he has chosen not to honour a British or German leader but the Prime Minister of India. He welcomed the leader of the world’s biggest democracy in Hindi and musical entertainment came from AR Rahman, best known for his soundtrack to Slumdog Millionaire.
Obama saluted both Gandhi and Martin Luther King and the spectacular gala cast the rise of the new superpower as an exciting and enriching prospect for the world.
If he can get Americans to think positively about globalisation there will be less clamour for protectionism and greater confidence among investors to grasp new opportunities.
Europe desperately needs such an invigorating vision of the future which will contrast with the gloom of post-imperial decline.
Extremists at different ends of the ideological spectrum have starched sentiments of hope and excitement out of the idea of multiculturalism.
Immigration is now seen as a problem rather than an opportunity and social change is now associated with threats instead of progress.
The challenge for the next generation of leaders in politics, the arts and religion is to encourage not just tolerance but celebration of diversity. The battle for the imagination is the struggle to plant hope where others would sow fear.
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