Last year when many Americans shied away from getting a H1N1 flu shot because of fear and suspicion that the shot wasn't safe, President Obama stepped up to the plate. "People need to understand that this vaccine is safe," he said. "Michelle and I just got the shots ourselves." Accompanying your words of bravado was a photo, released by the White House, of you rolling up your sleeve to get the flu shot. And two months before you got a shot, you bragged that your girls were two of the first children to get the shot.

If he were willing to set the example for my children and me over a fast-tracked flu shot, surely he should be willing to do the same regarding the TSA's enhanced pat-downs. Willingly and bravely he rolled up his sleeve to get the shot and gave a look that said, "See, that didn't hurt a bit, nor did it kill me." A White House released photo of him braving an enhanced pat-down would go a long ways. After all, true leaders lead by example, you know.

Fear over flu shots seem so passé now that the government is telling Americans that naked imaging and groping by TSA agents will keep us safe. Really? Keep us safe? For many of us, the jury is still out. When we see images of a nun being groped under her habit, hear of a pat-down causing urine to spill out of a cancer-survivor's urostomy bag, and see a little boy's naked chest being touched, we are prone to wonder. We wonder just how many Muslim extremists are hearing about and seeing the same images while rubbing their hands together in satisfaction as they laugh uncontrollably and then get back to planning their next attack.

Americans are frustrated. We're suspicious. We're even a little scared. We don't want a stranger to touch our private parts, nor those of our children. But if Obama would set the example like he did last year, perhaps we would follow his lead. Last year he rolled up a sleeve. This year all you need to do is spread your legs. Then after he's received his enhanced pat-down, he could turn towards the camera and give us a look that says, "See, that didn't hurt a bit."

And since Michelle and the children were used as examples to show how safe flu shots were, it would be so helpful and encouraging to me and my children to see pictures of them getting an enhanced pat-down too. Perhaps one of them could even get a cavity search done, all in the name of public safety of course.