Axelrod: Gee, wouldn't it be great if Obama was a dictator?

In this New York Times piece bemoaning Barack Obama's lack of forcefulness in pushing his agenda, White House senior advisor David Axelrod is caught wishing Obama was Commandante and Absolute Supreme Dictator...or something:

I would love to live in a world where the president could snap his fingers or even twist arms and make change happen, but in this great democracy of ours, that’s not the way it is.

One might almost think he uses the phrase "great democracy" derisively.