Let's Stop Giving Speeches, Start Twisting Arms, Obama

President Obama shouldn’t give a health care reform speech tonight. In fact, he should never give one again, writes Timothy Noah for Slate. He's already given a whopping 27 speeches on the issue. Every time he gets the urge to give another, he should instead sit down with Democratic holdouts and “explain how very difficult their lives will be if they don’t vote yes.”

The public doesn’t need to be sold on health care reform. Forty-eight percent still support “Obama’s plan,” while 55% favor the public option. Those numbers are dropping, but so has support for Republican alternatives—to 23%. Obama just needs to work on convincing the risk-averse Democrats in Congress to get this done. And for that, he's going to need flattery, promises, and arm twisting, not another dang speech. (More Barack Obama stories.)