Pity the task of our public leaders. They try to get us moving in the direction we want, but we just don't cooperate.

That certainly is the case with President Obama, who had to dig deep into his bag of rhetorical skills over the past several days in an effort to get his health care reform program back on track. Whether his well-received speech to Congress ("You lie" shouts notwithstanding) will do the trick remains to be seen.

But there's no question Obama is seeking to shift the political tide through his well-acknowledged gifts of public persuasion.

In Hawai'i, we are seeing the same thing with Gov. Linda Lingle, no slouch in the oratorical department herself. Lingle has been on the public speaking trail in recent weeks, trying to make the case that much of our economic distress recently is, well, our own darn fault.

At a recent meeting of business leaders, Lingle posed this somewhat Zen-like question: "If you're not for something, what are you for?"

Her point was, presumably, that in matters such as the Superferry, it is not enough to oppose the project. What are the alternatives? What do opponents suggest?

Her argument has resonance. If you are not for something, say, the Superferry, then what are you for, she asks. It is the duty of every citizen, Lingle argues, to be for something, not simply against something.

The governor uses a turn on the same argument when she discusses the state's relationship with the public sector unions over the need to shrink the budget. Lingle originally proposes furloughs as a way to bring payroll into line. The unions objected so she came back with what were, by almost any measure, severe layoff proposals.

Again, her argument: If the unions don't like furloughs, let alone layoffs, what then is their proposal? Again, it is a fair question; although the truth is that it has been answered. The unions offered to accept a modest furlough program and other adjustments in the face of the budget crunch. It just wasn't enough for the administration.

Lingle's fundamental call is for interest groups — labor, business, educators, environmentalists and others — to get busy advocating for what they are for, rather than focusing on what they are against. This is a good message, and one well delivered recently.

But at the end of the day, whether it is Obama in Washington or Lingle in Hawai'i, success will rest not on the quality of their words but on the soundness of their ideas. They were elected on the premise that they had the best ideas. Now is the time to show it.