While watching the leadership figures of both parties, the secretary of the treasury and the president all struggling to explain to us why we needed the bailout package, the famous line from Cool Hand Luke came to mind: What we have here is a failure to communicate.

In an emergency, those savvy in selling an idea -- as many Washington insiders are -- can quickly draw on a variety of communication techniques, some of them quite sophisticated. In this case, however, essentially everyone who took to the airwaves during the first week of the financial crisis failed at even the most basic communication strategies.

Given their inability to explain in simple terms why this was important to the average American, it should have come as no surprise that the early sentiment from the public was so overwhelmingly antibailout. Just about the only thing anyone could actually understand were the words ''bailout'' and ``$700 billion.''

Here's how it might have done a whole lot better:

• Speak English, not jargon. ''Credit freezes,'' ''global market implosions,'' ''mark-to-market accounting'' and a host of acronyms (LIBOR, or London Interbank Offering Rate; VIX, or volatility index, etc.) just make people's eyes glaze over. Don't tell people what a credit freeze is -- tell them what it means to them. If you're asking for the public to sign on the dotted line for $700 billion, then make it personal.

The communication rule that was violated: If you want to generate understanding of an issue, then you have to make yourself understood.

• Use the right venue. Sure, sometimes the podium with a bank of microphones and reporters, all asking questions at the same time, is OK, but mostly it isn't. In this case, it was all wrong, every time. The president may have stood and delivered his short speeches on this subject from the podium, but it was easy to tell that his heart wasn't in it. People not only listen -- they feel and sense. This needed the fireside-chat approach. It needed the late Tim Russert and his eraser board. It needed warmth, not coldness. It needed empathy.

The communication rule that was violated: If you want agreement and enthusiasm, be agreeable and enthusiastic.

• Use third parties. It isn't a stretch to say that people hold varying degrees of cynicism when it comes to the federal (or any, for that matter) government. But when you essentially have the leadership of the country knocking on your door, pen in hand, asking you to sign a $700 billion check, it should surprise no one that the American public might want to noodle it over and kick it around with their friends.

So give them some ''friends.'' It's one thing to have the secretary of the treasury on TV, but another to have Warren Buffett, the self-made tycoon who's known for his plain language. When asked by CNBC what would happen if the bill didn't pass, he responded, ''heaven help us.'' Everyone understands that.

Someone should have advised the politicians to reach out to some high-profile business executives who have public respect and cache -- Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, and Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric, come to mind.

The communication rule that was violated: If the car salesman tells you it's a great car, you are of a certain mind-set. If your close friend tells you it's a great car, you are of a different mind-set.

Let's hope thoseinvolved turn out to be better economists than communicators.

Bruce S. Rubin is senior counsel with rbb Public Relations in Coral Gables. He has done consulting work for The Miami Herald.

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