Who has the more demanding job?

[Del Tachi]

It may actually be the mayor of NYC...simply for the following reasons:

1.  With great power comes great responsibility.  The mayor of New York City has much more executive power than the President does in a sense.  A hostile Congress can hold the President's agenda hostage, while the mayor of the Big Apple is a stronger executive who has more ability to operate independently of the legislative branch.

2.  The mayor of NYC must be a much more "hands-on" executive.  The mayor of New York City must devote a large amount of his time to effort to administering the very mundane yet very important aspects of NYC government such as public transportation, sanitation, and public education.  The Presidency has become much more of a political position rather than an administrative one in recent decades, and the President can, if he chooses, stick to speaking in platitudes and delegating to underlings in a way that the mayor of NYC may not be able to get away with as easily.

3.  The office does not command as much respect.  Centuries of tradition and etiquette have built-up the Presidency into something that the average American would not find very approachable.  The mayor of NYC enjoys no such gravitas.

In short, I imagine that New York residents expect a lot more of their mayor than the average American does of his President.  Throw on top of that the fact that managing NYC would be a bureaucratic nightmare and I think that the position of mayor of the Big Apple might very well challenge the United States Presidency in what it demands of its office-holders.

[Maxwell]

What about foreign affairs?

[DC Al Fine]

The one who can start a nuclear war.

[pbrower2a]

President of the United States for diplomacy and military issues -- and overall stewardship of the economy.