Via Greg Hengler, is this ship going down so fast that not even Tingles will stand on the deck with the captain as it disappears below the waves? Good lord. Someone, please, tell Obama that he’s still the unicorn prince of their dreams, capable of turning water into wine and worthless mortgages into pure spun gold. Here we go — thank you, Curtis Sittenfeld!

I know the clip sounds promising from the headline, but alas, my friends, this is really just ye olde “messaging” lament by another name. Apparently, the reason the public’s not sold on ObamaCare and the stimulus is because, notwithstanding his thousand speeches on both topics and ludicrous arguments about bending the cost curve, The One simply hasn’t explained Keynesian economics accessibly enough yet. In fact, this is the “messaging” lament on steroids: Look out for the line where Matthews acknowledges that even if gigantic spending isn’t a catalyst for economic growth, “he ought to sell it that way, at least.”

Give him credit, though, at least for recognizing that The One should be doing less talking and more listening. Granted, the people he’d say we should be listening to are those who think the big problem with O-Care is that it lacks a public option, but he’s at least in the neighborhood of the problem here. For further reading in the “messaging” vein — and you’ll be hearing a lot of this on Wednesday, no doubt — see Tina Brown’s meditation today on how Obama can change course. Hint: More robust White House arts-and-concerts initiatives in the grand style of Jackie Kennedy. That’ll quiet these wingnuts down a bit.