Obama can't wash his hands of all the nation's problems

What does being a good citizen mean when we're in a recession, at war, on the brink of a pandemic, in debt up to our ears and sick and tired of learning of another crisis every news cycle?

I don't know. I used to think I knew about doing one's civic duty. But in the Age of Obama, I'm not certain any more.

We should be grateful that in all the hullabaloo over the first 100 days, the president didn't conclude, "To heck with this. I'm outta here" and resign.

Instead, he asked us to wash our hands, sneeze and cough into handkerchiefs and stay home if we're sick. He also told us he wants to spend $1.5 billion more of our money to handle the swine flu virus, which he now calls A/H1N1 virus to reassure us.

We're told that the cataclysmic fall in the gross domestic product may have a silver lining because we consumers are spending a little more. (At the same time, every financial adviser is screaming: "Save your money!")

President Barack Obama also asked us to rejoice with him that Congress passed his $3.5 trillion budget outline for fiscal year 2010. This was the final shellacking to the old Age of Bush with its concept of limited government — except for fighting wars in several countries at once.

In the House not a single Republican voted for Obama's blueprint. Neither did Sen. Arlen Specter, who just announced he is now a Democrat. (He almost never votes with the Democrats but is hoping Pennsylvania voters will be so confused they'll vote for him anyway.)

Obama says we have to be prepared for more job layoffs, more home foreclosures and more financial angst. But, he said, we should be grateful that 95 percent of working families will get a few more dollars each week through his tax cut, enough to buy a few boxes of tissues and salt-laden fast food burgers and jolt the economy into prosperity.

The president said he is eager for Congress to pass new health care legislation (using a sleight-of-hand technique that permits the Senate to deal with health care overhaul with a 51-vote majority instead of the usual 60 votes), infrastructure spending, clean energy research and development, stricter regulations on Wall Street and other promises he made on the campaign trail. But he knows he doesn't have a "rubber-stamp" Congress, so he's asking us to endure more rancorous partisanship.