Hey all to the chief it's Frekenomics Radio from American Public Media and WNYC.

Here's your host, Steve and Devner.

I've got a question for you, but you're not going to like it.

Most people, if you ask in this question, their heads explode.

They sputter, they swear, they tell you you're a moron for even thinking this question,

much less asking it.

Let's ask it anyway.

Here goes.

How much does the President of the United States really matter?

I mean we know the rhetoric.

The President is the leader of the free world, the most powerful human being on the face

of the earth.

Let's back off from the rhetoric, try to break it down.

Let me introduce you to some people whose heads don't explode when we ask the question.

People who take the questions seriously.

We'll start with what gamblers and stock markets have to say about the power of the

Oval Office.

Then we'll visit a baseball manager and then a baseball scholar to look for parallels

between the American pastime and the American presidency.

And finally we talk about the actual job and whether the President is more like a

puppet master pulling every string that makes us dance or the Wizard of Oz, the symbol

of power.

...