So, if Congress passes one of the most sweeping financial reform packages in our lifetime in the dead of summer, is anybody listening?

True, Thursday’s final Senate vote on the bill—60 to 39—bodes well for the nation, our economy and for President Obama. After all, new consumer protections, more shareholder/creditor responsibility and more stringent requirements on derivatives and other financial “instruments” are sorely needed. But it makes me wonder: Do we as Americans even realize what just happened?

Schools are out, families are on vacation, attention is diverted and we’re in full summer mode. Perhaps the Obama administration had no control over the timing. But endless bickering and partisan debates put the final vote on July 15, the deadest of dead zones. And this was a long time coming. As a stark reminder of the lag, I still have the yellowed newspaper clipping from The Wall Street Journal front page from June 18, 2009, tacked to my corkboard (see right) with the declarative headline: “Historic Overhaul of Finance Rules.” But I’ve got to think that more could have been done by the president’s spinmeisters during the last year to get out ahead of this and rally more interest. From a PR standpoint, here a few things they should have considered:

• Personalize the story– This is something we advise our clients all the time. Don’t simply tell me you’re doing the right thing, show me. In this case, give me a steady drumbeat of stories/anecdotes about the financial crisis’ impact on Americans and small businesses. Sure, we’re told that people are hurting. We’ve got shocking data and trends, but I can’t recall a lasting image of a person or collective group (I’m not talking about AIG, Lehman et al, either) the administration held up in an effort to rally support.
• Put this in plainspeak – Collateralized debt obligations. Derivatives. Credit default swaps. You’ve all mastered those terms by now, right? Rule of thumb: Never use a term if you can’t quickly follow it up with an example of how it’s used and what it represents. When I started out as a newspaper reporter more than 20 years ago, one of the first lessons I learned was that you don’t speak the language of the politician or the corporate muckety-muck. You speak the language of the people. Only then can you rally them to your cause.
• Advance the story – Now that reform bill is in motion (it’s now with President Obama), Congress needs to continue to rally support for the bill. They need to continue to hammer home key themes and issues so that the public understands the next steps.

The bill is expected to be signed into law soon by President Obama, according to media accounts. How the Obama administration plays this—and how we the public receive it—are two distinct issues. Time will tell if anybody’s listening.