We were encouraged last week when President Obama challenged Congress to forgo its Fourth of July recess and stay on the job to solve the country’s financial crisis. Obama seemed to be seconding The Washington Examiner’s April 18 editorial that said: “Now is the time to act, right here in Washington. Business-as-usual has no place when the country’s future is in peril. Cancel all recesses and junkets, park Air Force One, and get back to the capital and do your job.” With the national debt at $14.3 trillion and an Aug. 5 deadline for deciding whether to raise it yet again so that Washington politicians can continue borrowing 40 cents of every dollar they spend, the urgency of The Examiner’s suggestion hasn’t lessened an iota since April. Alas, Obama then boarded Air Force One and flew off to do multiple campaign fundraisers. After gathering up the contributions, Obama came back to Washington to take full advantage of the many opportunities presented by Independence Day festivities to appear presidential. Sadly, there were no meetings on the president’s official weekend schedule that included both congressional Democrats and Republicans to work on a budget agreement that could get the country back on the path toward economic growth, a balanced federal budget and a reduced national debt. In other words, Obama was just playing politics with the economic crisis last week when he challenged Congress not to take the Independence Day recess.

What Obama and too many congressional leaders in both parties still don’t get is that business-as-usual politics is over. A recent Rasmussen Reports survey illustrates how wide the gulf is between the country’s political leadership and most Americans. Sixty-eight percent of ordinary Americans say the country is heading in the wrong direction, but 72 percent of the political class contend it is going in the right direction. In a related vein, Gallup recently reported public approval for Congress is now down to 17 percent. Obama has little room to gloat over Congress’ troubles, however, as he is currently in a dead heat with a “generic Republican” 2012 presidential nominee when Rasmussen asks likely voters who they favor in the White House.