Writing for Real Clear Politics, David Shribman explains that one of President Barack Obama’s main jobs as president of all Americans will be to “inspire.” He will have done half his job, Shribman seems to believe, if he inspires American to reach new heights, in their personal and public life, and to improve themselves and the country.

It is a wonderful sentiment, but bullocks nonetheless.

A president’s main job is most certainly not to inspire; rather, it is to execute the laws accepted by Congress. Inspiring anyone is not even a distant second; the second job of the president is to take the country safe. His third job is to propose laws. Fourthly, he has to improve America’s relationship with foreign countries. Then there are many other responsibilities a president has, all of which more important than “inspiring” people.

Of course, inspiring citizens is a nice ‘plus’ for a president, but it is not an important part of the job. A man can be an incredibly dull person, but a great president nonetheless. One could even argue that dull presidents rank among the best in history.

But that on a side-note.

Shribman’s column is interesting, though, because he words the view many Americans have these days – about who they want their president to be – quite perfectly. The idea that the president should be “inspiring” is a tremendous misconception which has been fed by popular culture and ’serious commentators’ such as Mr. Shribman. It has become accepted, it seems, among Americans that their president has to “inspire” them, even though this was never his job before. The president envisioned by America’s founding fathers was most definitely not an inspiring person in any way whatsoever. It was a technocrat who simply favored enabling people to live as they wanted to live, and to be what and who they wanted to be. A president had to execute laws and refrain from doing anything else.

The new president, however, which has developed in the 20th century, is an entirely different animal altogether. It is a fascinating, but still possibly dangerous, development.