In a week devoted to cures for our growing economic ills, Barack Obama made the conventional political promise: To every "middle-class" American, a chicken in every pot, paid for by someone else.

The ambitious Obama economic agenda laid out in St. Louis includes:

More tax money for education, government subsidies for "green energy" companies, more tax money for "rebuilding our schools, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure that needs repair," $50 billion immediately for a new "stimulus package" to send "energy rebate checks" to less-affluent households, plus $1,000 to every American household in more enduring tax relief, tax money to bail out "families who find themselves mired in debt," a new "pension plan" that includes a government subsidy of up to $500 a year for households making less than $75,000 a year, $4,000 a year in free (aka taxpayer paid) tuition for anyone who pledges "national service," a new mortgage tax credit on top of the existing one for "10 million homeowners" and more taxpayer subsidies for day care through the child-care tax credit.

Make that two chickens, three French hens and a partridge in every pear tree, at least.

All this on top of a universal health-care plan that will "help families who are struggling under the crushing burden of health-care costs by passing a plan that brings the typical family's premiums down by $2,500 and guarantees coverage to everyone who wants it."

And Obama says he can pay for all this spending by cutting in corporate tax "loopholes" and "tax havens" — oh, yes, and by "responsibly" losing the war in Iraq.

"My plan is detailed and specific when it comes to cutting spending. In fact, all my new spending proposals would be more than paid for by spending reductions," he opined.

And Obama promises to vastly expand taxpayer obligations for a new and expensive network of benefits at the same time that neither he nor anyone else in Washington — including John McCain — will tell us how to pay for our existing underfunded obligations to senior citizens in Social Security, Medicare and prescription drug benefits.

All gain, no pain. That's Obama's totally conventional Washington promise to the American people.

Meanwhile, a reality check: Over the next two generations the proportion of Americans over age 65 will more than double. Paying for our existing promises of health care and retirement security for senior citizens without crushing the economic dreams of younger working Americans is the most important task Washington faces domestically. Delivering on existing promises to seniors is going to require the difficult combination of substantial tax increases and at least modest benefit cuts, most likely in the form of increases in the retirement age.

How can any responsible leader make vast new pledges and commit taxpayer dollars to grand new obligations until we've found a way to pay for our existing promises to America's senior citizens?

Oh, silly me, we are talking about a Washington politician, aren't we?

In St. Louis, Obama declared: "As our world and our economy have changed, only Washington has stood still."

Money for nothing, and your health care for free. And if you like the sound of that, I hear there's a bridge in Brooklyn available on eBay for a song.

The American people appear to be once more engaged in our ritual housecleaning in Washington.

But the more some things change, the more they stay the same.

Maggie Gallagher's column is distributed by Universal Press Syndicate.