We’ve seen this before: Prime-time address, big stakes, and the fierce urgency of now. America yawns: Another Obama speech? The thrill fades, as Jon Stewart might say, when one is on television more than George Stephanopoulos. Jonathan Cohn at The New Republic says this could be another Wright Moment, where Obama seizes the opportunity to “offer a disquisition” and reaffirm his “commitment to the ideals on which he ran.” Americans can “handle the complicated message,” says Cohn. “In fact, they want it.”

Americans, I’d venture, have had enough of complicated this past year. President Obama will reportedly speak for an hour, but he’d be better served to keep it simple, brief, and anchored to a couple of key points. Forget Cohn’s well-meaning wishes, and similar advice from the ‘let Obama be Obama’ school. Besides, as Richard Cohen writes, no one’s really sure what that means: “For the moment, it’s a tendentious populism, but the sound of it is tinny and inauthentic, a campaign tactic, nothing more.” Cohen’s right: The sound of tonight’s talk will be rather meaningless in the long run. As Peggy Noonan reminds us: “It doesn’t really matter how he sounds. It matters, in a time of crisis, what he does. That’s where the lack of connection comes in.”

So I say short and sweet — a little freeze talk, a dollop of foreign policy, and some clarity on health care — and he’s done. Show that he’s learned that “just words” can’t make everything better. As Gene Healy says, “Must-see TV this ain’t, but a lessening of presidential ambition would be very good news.”