Something has got to give

We make a huge deal about who should be president and why one candidate is so much better than the other. In some instances, I have seen very good friendships deeply divided and sometimes broken over it.
 I am Canadian. I am not an American. So, I will admit I don't fully understand how the American political system works. Senate, Congress, the President, I don't really understand how all the variables play out together. Even in Canada, I don't fully understand how it works. In reality, it doesn't work, on either side of the border.
What I do understand,  and what is plain to see to me, is that however it was intended to work, it isn't working anymore. No matter how and why the system was setup the way it was,  in most cases, it works against the common goal and good, not for it. 
What powers does a president actually have? I am not really sure anymore and I would venture to say that most Americans don't know either. In our minds, we would like to think that the leader of the most powerful nation on the planet should have the most power and be able to get achieved any agenda he or she sets his or her mind to get done. In reality, that is not how it works.
 Should the president have more absolute power? Should congress and senate have a large say? I don't know, but I know that something has to happen so that those we elect can make a difference and get things done.
If Obama cant succeed because of Congress, or the Senate, and the president is such an important and powerful position, then maybe we should take a look at how much power congress and the senate has. Or, maybe we make more out of being the President than we should. I do know you can't lead if you are forced to follow.
 But,  if the president doesn't have the power we think he should have,  or actually does have, then why are we so passionate about who becomes the President? Does it really matter all that much, or is it really mostly symbolic at this point? Maybe neither the President or the senate or congress has any real power and most of the real power falls to the Big Corps which fund their campaigns and in many ways control the economy.
 Is it because we think the president should have that kind of power? Are we disappointed that he doesn't? And if he doesn't,  should we restore that? Can we restore it if we want to, or is the system so engrained that we have no hope of righting the ship?
 I do understand that you can never really get things done if you purport to have a supreme leader like the President yet try to run your country by committee as with the senate and or congress. I don't need to know anything about the system to know that it simply wont work the way it is setup now.

Arguing about finding a way to get things done is a waste of time argument and has to stop. Time is running out on the sinking ship that is the United States. The time for discussion and bickering is over. The patient is in critical condition and there is no time to debate which treatment might work if we could all agree to try it.
Something has got to give, and it better give soon. The deficit is skyrocketing. Jobs are gone and still going. The health care system is a fiasco. The basics of the civil society are crumbling while the Senate, Congress and President argue amongst themselves about whose fault this is. Meanwhile, a no talent candidate like Mitt Romney is just a few months from getting elected and taking control, control he can't manage. 
Good thing he probably wont be able to do anything against the stalemate that currently exists.
Or is that a good thing? Who even knows anymore?
Not me.