A leaked memo with new communications strategies for Donald Carcieri is a sad document.

Republican Carcieri’s problem is not communications.

It’s governance.

His problem is not the way he sells the product.

It’s the product — or lack of attractive product.

There’s nothing wrong with his news coverage that better news — that is, news of real accomplishment — wouldn’t solve.

Irony: In many ways, the governor actually is a gifted communicator. In specific settings, he projects compassion or enthusiasm. He hugs. He laughs. He’s folksy. He’s a cheerleader.

Carcieri also excels at raging against the Democratic General Assembly, corruption and labor.

And it’s hard to argue with his slogan of government efficiency.

But so what? Rhode Islanders want results. They want better jobs, better health coverage, better schools, better opportunity for their kids to go to college — in other words, a better shake.

If they got it, they’d feel better about the governor and the legislature, and polls would show it.

If businesses are rocked by layoffs, if the local school is lousy, if folks can’t find housing — or afford to keep it — if government mismanagement flares even under a “reform” governor, and scandal hovers over the State House, who’ll say Rhode Island is on the right track?

It is entertaining to watch Carcieri fulminate against lawmakers and labor. But he’d do himself and the citizenry a favor if, instead, he engaged in the hard, sustained slogging necessary to build working relationships and actually get things done.

Last week, in advance of yesterday’s announcement about cutting the state work force and finding other savings, he did have meetings with legislative powers and union leaders. A genuine turning point — or a gimmick?

Recalling some previous sessions with Carcieri, the AFL-CIO’s George Nee said, “Sometimes I walk out and feel like, OK, maybe we’re going in a new direction.” It hasn’t happened, but Nee said he’s hopeful.

On the legislative front, let’s see how often Carcieri and House and Senate bigwigs confer in the future. Governors and key lawmakers used to lunch every week. It’s not just process, though; substance must improve. Control spending — but wisely.

I don’t impugn the motives of Carcieri and the lawmakers. But when, for example, they cut back on childcare subsidies, it seems not to occur to them that this affects real people. When I mentioned this last week to Lucie Burdick, president of the social workers union, she said, “Oh my God, that’s so true!”

The memo a group of unnamed backers gave Carcieri is unsettling. For example, the idea that Carcieri needs to “sell” the budget and work force cuts by taking “control of the message” early and touring statewide shows admirable ambition. But if the proposals themselves don’t make sense or are unrealistic or, despite his intentions, will hurt delivery of services, no one will be impressed.

A most troubling line in the memo is that the chief of staff must take a “more public role as the voice of the Administration.”

I’ve never met an aide who was a better spokesman for a governor than the governor himself.

Yet even a governor will get nowhere if he’s more interested in imagery than content. Yesterday’s ballyhooed news conference on work force cuts and other economies may have bought Carcieri a quick headline. But details of the plan remain sketchy. Who knows what it will amount to or what will come of it?

Stay tuned.

M. Charles Bakst is The Journal’s political columnist.

mbakst@projo.com