Most of the people I see on TV are elated about the presidency of Barack Obama. Many of the people I know are dismayed about it, and some of them are despairing.

I understand all these folks' feelings, but I think they need some perspective. Some of them are at risk of trusting too much in man. Others are in danger of trusting too little in God.

Whatever you think of Barack Obama, this much is safe to say: At his best, he won't do nearly as much good as some of us hope, and at his worst, he won't do nearly as much harm as others of us fear. As much power as a President has, he hasn't got nearly as much as we tend to think.

We often default to regarding the President like a king, even though we know we're not supposed to. No surprise there. It's an ancient human desire to want one man to look up to. Just look at biblical Israel to see how deep that desire runs. They had God Himself for a ruler, but they couldn't place their security in Him. They insisted on being "like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles."

Americans like to think we're past all that. When there's a crisis, though, we eagerly wait for the President to tell us how he'll save us. It happened with FDR in the Depression and with George W. Bush after 9/11. And it's happening with Barack Obama today.

It's easy to see why people get excited about Obama. Contrary to the claims of Rush Limbaugh, he's far from being "an empty suit." He has many strong points and his critics should acknowledge them. He is intelligent and thoughtful and cosmopolitan and charismatic and inspirational. He does bring new viewpoints and new energy. He has the potential to bridge some old divisions and promote some valuable conversations, both at home and overseas.

But say you like all those personal qualities. (They are big plusses.) And say you like his policies too. (Though they're much more debatable.) The fact remains, he's no savior — not even in a secular sense. No President is. For all the talk of "change," there's only so much he can change if he tries.

It's often said, carelessly, that the President "runs the country." The truth is, he doesn't even "run" the federal government — a big, complicated beast with multiple branches, permanent bureaucracies, and (at least) hundreds of thousands of people avidly pursuing their own interests. When you've got a beast that size, the most energetic, effective President imaginable can only steer its course to a modest degree. (Some of us think that's why the beast never should have been allowed to grow this size to begin with. Most politicians — the new President included — think it hasn't grown enough.)

More important, the federal government doesn't "run" the country. There are roughly 90,000 other governments within the country (states, cities, counties, etc.) There are far more private organizations — businesses, unions, professional groups, churches, charities, you name it. There are hundreds of millions of individuals making untold billions of decisions every day. All that's just within the United States: We haven't even touched on the effect of international economic and cultural forces.

And then, of course, there's God, at work in all of it — allowing His creatures to act freely within their given capacities, yet working His sovereign will throughout, in ways we can't begin to fathom.

Just thinking about it brings to mind one of my favorite quotes from the great author Samuel Johnson: "How small, of all that human hearts endure, that part which laws or kings can cause or cure." It's not as true as it was when Johnson said it in the 18th century: Governments can cause more of what we endure than they used to. (They still can't cure much.) But there's still more truth than fiction to the saying.

Presidents can't lead us into a Golden Age. They can affect the economy for good or (at least as often) ill, and what they do matters. They can't make the economy run. They can uphold or undermine virtue, and what they do matters there too. But they can't create virtue and they can't eradicate it. All they can do is weigh in on something that arises from families and churches and other sources that don't arise from federal subsidies.

This should sober the people who are most hopeful about Obama. On the flip side, it should encourage the people who are most fearful.

Say Obama wants to strike down all limits on abortion, to redefine marriage and family life, to appoint like-minded judges who will use the courts to pursue a liberal social agenda. The fact remains, he's not all-powerful. He can do a lot of damage. He can't wipe out the grassroots movements to protect human life and preserve family life, even if he tries.

These are cultural movements, after all. They intersect with the world of politics, but they don't live there. They live in sermons and Bible studies and everyday conversations. They live in pregnancy-care center volunteers, and in parents teachings kids right from wrong, and, of course, in many, many prayers. Sometimes they make progress in the culture and sometimes they falter, but they live on because — in short — many people still care very much about what God has to say.

Not that the world in general always cares, which is why good causes don't always succeed. But we can't get so caught up in worldly battles that we forget what's most important: God is still in control.

Sometimes He may work good through Barack Obama. Other times He may work good in spite of Barack Obama. Either way, He will work good. He is our real king. He is our real hope. And He is the antidote to our despair.