A TRENCHANT OBSERVATION FOR A CHANGING SOCIAL ORDER.

The Economist's Lexington: The myth of an omnipotent presidency makes it harder to get a competent one.

If the conditions that once made presidents seem like emperors have disappeared, that ought to lead to a more limited form of government. Instead, America is left with the institutions devised in the middle of the 20th century but governed by a different strain of politics.

The essay concludes, "Unfortunately the idea of an omnipotent president is harder to kill."

Perhaps, although experience might be a better teacher.