“We can’t wait” is a catchphrase the president has taken to using all the time — to excess, really.

It’s getting so that when he says this or that government action has to happen now — no more political debates, no more relying on a do-nothing Congress — the natural reaction is … well, to wait. You suspect a politician’s hustle.

Yet there is no end of legitimate “we can’t waits” in an individual’s or a family’s life. Urgency is definitely warranted at times, and there’s regret when the signal is missed.

For example, if you know a 13- or 14-year-old girl, you can’t wait. Make it crystal clear that she should not — not — have a baby out of wedlock. There’s no better guidance an elder could state in one sentence to steer a young person away from a life of poverty. Not to mention, in a very large percentage of cases, the favor you’d be doing to unborns so often doomed to poverty in turn, the downward paths of school failure, crime and prison. Republican and Democratic party platforms would search in vain for anything smarter than just that one “you can’t wait.”

Meanwhile, a would-be mommy (or daddy) saved from the worst trap should go ahead and finish school, then get and hold a job. This is 90 percent of a personal war on poverty. Public cost: $0. Don’t ask why somebody in government isn’t promoting it, like heading off that awful evil, childhood obesity.

The “finish school” advice brings up another “can’t wait.” Parents can’t wait for boards of education and teacher unions to save America’s schools eventually. Their kids are there now. So concentrate on those individual faces to the national problem: Help him or her with the homework. Praise A’s and B’s as much as touchdowns and baskets. And get the kids to speak clearly and speak up in English. That way they’ll deal with customers someday, not welfare workers.

Here’s another “can’t wait” for anybody from the 20s to the 60s. Start saving. What could be clearer in the woes of the elderly on fixed incomes• Investment specifics can wait; the savings decision can’t. (Here government also could help by not taxing dividends and interest. But you have to guess the president can wait on that.) Those crowds rioting in Greece are instructive; they couldn’t wait for government to take care of them. But no government can keep doing it long-term. It goes broke. The prudent will take care of ourselves.

An easy save (maybe too easy, it’s been pointed out so many times) is cigarettes. A pack a day is $2,000 a year crying to be socked away for retirement. As for slot machines and lottery tickets, shun such fun. But leave it to government to promote “gaming” for the taxes. Says something, doesn’t it?

Can’t wait to get off unemployment• Sure, although the “pay” might last for 99 weeks. Employers aren’t supposed to discriminate if you show up looking for work after that. But nobody can look into their heads. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they naturally have a bias for applicants who prove their work ethic by working, at no matter what humble job or jobs while waiting for the mail.

All these decisions are for free individuals able to help themselves. One way or another, government will always keep you waiting.

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