Why GM needs more stories and fewer stats to sell its case for aid.

These stories could even be used to boost the other public policy points the industry has been arguing, helping GM to appear more as responsible public citizens and less like subsidy-dependent plutocrats. For example, GM could get retirees to tell stories about the importance of making health care more available, pegged to both the incoming administration and the concessions workers have had to make in recent contracts. This week’s public presentations barely touched on broader health care reform issues.

By Thursday, Democratic senators had turned on the Big Three, asking that they return with detailed proposals outlining how aid would help set them right. But the automakers’ problems in the public eye run far deeper. Maybe it’s time they pull at our heartstrings, not just our wallets.