Matt Welch on Obama's Symbolic Presidency

In late January, President Barack Obama made one of his occasional forays into a simulated social-media free-for-all, taking pre-submitted questions from the common people on Google+. A 29-year-old Texas Republican mother of two asked the president about the wisdom of immigration visas for high-skilled workers, given that her husband, a semiconductor engineer, was unemployed. "If you send me your husband's résumé, I'd be interested in finding out exactly what's happening right there," Obama told her.

Barack Obama is the boss of more than 4 million employees. Yet this type of micromanaging, even of people he doesn't (yet) employ, has become a staple of his presidency. But as Editor in Chief Matt Welch notes, Obama is just trafficking in symbolism. After all, if Obama can really get you get a job, why can't he produce a federal budget?