Not that Obama is Mr. Perfect. As his Uncle Real would tell him, sometimes...

“You need to get to the point.”

Plan on hearing the “pull the plug on grandma” quote from Obama’s New Hampshire health care town hall on an endless, out-of-context radio and TV loop from now until the midterm elections.

For a guy who’s good with words, the president is building a nice resume of one-liners that he almost certainly wishes he could take back. No one really thinks that he meant any harm by his “pull the plug” line, but words do rankle. It’s time for him to leave the jokes to the professionals.

And the issue isn’t “death panels,” premiums, co-pays, tort reform or rationing—so Obama shouldn’t play it that way. It’s about Americans’ willingness to do something for the greater good.

Or not. But in order to convince Americans to go for the greater good, Obama needs to do a little sacrificing himself. Which is why his uncle will tell him...

“You don’t need a vacation; you need a ‘staycation.’”

It doesn’t matter that Martha’s Vineyard has been a summer haven for generations of African-American strivers, or that Obama probably needs a few days off. He should skip the family trip booked for next week. Michelle and the kids should still go, but he’s better off staying back in D.C.

First and foremost, Obama needs the public to know that he’s on his health care grind—there’s plenty of time later for a wholesome photo-op of him playing Frisbee on the beach with his kids.

George W. Bush vacationed more than he worked, but he was a legacy hire and a trust-fund baby, and everyone understood he was just being himself. Obama won’t get the same leeway when he hits The Vineyard with his Amazon Kindle. By the time you can say, “chill, mark,” the far right will have tagged the president as a Chablis-sipping nobleman living it up on Joe Six Pack’s dime.

The visuals just won’t work.

Obama can’t lose sight of the fact that he’s governing a nation of bacon cheeseburger enthusiasts who’ll skip work for the chance to yell at their Congressmen about why they don’t want “socialized” medicine, but can’t get enough government handouts like “Cash for Clunkers.”

He needs someone around who can help him keep this in mind. Someone who shoots from the hip and cuts through the crap.

That would the job of Obama’s honorary uncle. From health care to cap-and-trade to Iraq, he wouldn’t have to look at polling data or study a CBO report. He could tell the president what he already knows in his gut from a life lived on the front lines:

“You can try it if you want to—but these ‘real’ Americans will never go for it.”

David Swerdlick is a regular contributor to The Root.