Need a dodge for questions you're not ready to answer? Here it is.

'I'm focused on' is one of those maxims that’s difficult for anyone beyond a politician’s inner circle to disprove. And it helps demonstrate said politician’s devotion to his or her current duties. Ask Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

|
James Nord/AP
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) pushes South Dakota lawmakers to support a balanced federal budget amendment during a Jan. 20, 2015, meeting at an American Legion post in Pierre, S.D. The meeting was the first of a six-state tour promoting a balanced budget amendment.

“I’m focused on …” An all-purpose way for politicians to dodge reporters’ questions – which invariably are about the lawmakers’ aspirations for higher office – that they aren’t ready to answer.

It’s one of those maxims that’s difficult for anyone beyond a politician’s inner circle to disprove. And of course, it helps to demonstrate said politician’s devotion to his or her current duties.

A year or so out from the 2016 primaries, potential Republican presidential candidates often fall back on the phrase. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) has become expert at it, arguing that pressing state business is keeping his eyes on Columbus – for now, anyway.

“I’m introducing a budget in another week that will be another significant reform budget,” Governor Kasich told “Fox News Sunday” earlier this week. “That's what we do out here.... What I'm going to do is focus now, I've gotta get this budget going.... There's plenty of time for me to decide.”

Top Florida Republicans also recently took the approach regarding the 2018 gubernatorial race. At Gov. Rick Scott’s recent inauguration, Attorney General Pam Bondi assured probing reporters: “I’m focused on being attorney general for the next four years,” echoing similar sentiments by Agriculture Commission Adam Putnam and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater.

And in California, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom opted out of 2018 gubernatorial speculation by saying he was focused on another statewide race he isn't even running for – an open US Senate seat in 2016. “We're going to focus appropriately on what's in front of us, and that’s the Senate seat that we hope Democrats are successful in replacing one of the legendary California Democrats, Barbara Boxer,” he said.

Athletes and coaches regularly trot it out, too, as a way of indicating they’re not distracted by anything beyond what’s in front of them. “The only thing I’m focused on is the Seattle Seahawks,” New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick declared this week, in a highly unsuccessful effort to deflate the national chatter over Deflategate.

But the most memorable nonpolitical use is still by Martha Stewart in 2002, when she was the target of insider-trading allegations for which she eventually did jail time. Asked repeatedly about her financial misdeeds on CBS’s “Early Show” during her cooking and home-entertainment segment, Stewart curtly responded that she wanted “to focus on my salad.”

Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Decoder Voices. 

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Need a dodge for questions you're not ready to answer? Here it is.
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/Politics-Voices/2015/0129/Need-a-dodge-for-questions-you-re-not-ready-to-answer-Here-it-is
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe