No Answer From A Politician

A couple of hours ago I watched a politician respond to two back-to-back “yes or no” questions with long, rambling, meaningless statements. In fact, about 25 seconds into each comment my eyes began to glaze over and I could no longer tell what the heck she was talking about nor could I remember the question.

The response to each of the inquiries probably went on for close to a minute and yet despite all the talking she never actually answered either of the simple questions.

By the way, this politician is not one of the people running for president in either party. This person was merely giving her opinion about some softball political questions. There was absolutely no reason to hide anything or be evasive. She could have answered either question with yes or no and it would not have been a big deal. They were not “gotcha” questions meant to trap or embarrass her.

In a way this is fairly amusing. In fact, I laughed and yelled at the television when it was happening. But this is also part of the problem.

Most long-time politicians (like this person) have been so overly coached by advisors to be evasive, indirect and obscure when it comes to statements to the press that they have lost the ability to communicate in plain, simple, understandable ways.

It went something like this… Question: Do you like ice cream?

Answer: Well you know, ice cream is something we’ve been thinking about and studying carefully and we’re excited about the possibilities that are evolving in the field of ice cream these days. Of course, ice cream can be eaten in a cone or without a cone but there is no conclusive research available, at this point in time, about either method. Both have a reputation for being quite tasty. I’m out and about listening to the people and we are getting ready to present some findings one of these days. This will be far into the future when people have completely forgotten what this issue is all about, most people on earth have become comatose and frozen yogurt has become the topic of the day. However, we remain firmly committed to the good, ice cream eating people of this country…  blah, blah, blah, blah, blah!

[Deep sigh…]

Since people in both political parties do this I do not consider it to be a Republican problem or a Democrat problem. I think it is, to some extent, inherent in politics. It is known and understood that this is how you play the game.

NOTE:  Wow, I just took a moment to re-read this piece before posting it. LOL! We are this early in a long election cycle and the politicians are already getting me irritated. I’m going to need to take some deep breaths, count to ten and relax, huh?