Most Powerful?

At election time we hear people say that at stake is the position for the most powerful person on earth, or maybe in the western hemisphere.

Is that really so?

I suppose from one perspective it is. The President can push the button to set off a nuclear holocaust. That's pretty powerful.

But in other ways the President of the US is not so powerful as other heads of state. For example, complaints to the contrary, POTUS cannot control the media, nor order the assassination of opponents or shoot someone on 5th Avenue and get away with it.

If you want to be really powerful, you'd have to become a dictator in a country where you can pretty much do as you wish--at least until the next coup.