Just Answer the Question, PLEASE!

One thing that makes my hair want to EXPLODE is the fact that politicians cannot – and I seriously mean CANNOT – apparently answer any question posed to them with a direct “yes” or “no” response.  It matters not their gender, party affiliation, etc, etc. – they just cannot answer a question…simply.  Why, I have to ask? Why?

I often wonder if I am the ONLY one who notices this about politicians? Perhaps I’m too simple-minded but it just seems that anytime a question is posed, it’s almost as if the politician is part of an alternative universe – much like an Alzheimer’s patient – as the answers are often unrelated to the original question.  So I, a likely voter, at the very least am left scratching my head or in complete frustration – find myself talking back to the T.V. Recently, a bug on the wall would have witnessed me sounding like Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowlaski, begging in a guttural voice the politician being interviewed: “puleeeese just answer the question…….puleeeese.” I then curled up in a fetal position as the interview droned on feeling thoroughly exhausted and depleted.

What this all leaves me with are serious doubts as to the honesty of ANY politician.  If they can’t answer questions directly – if everything they say has been spun to the point that there is no substance – if they have to be “handled” by professionals who tell them what to say and how to think based on focus groups and polling data, then they are nothing other than puppets – talking heads. And, this makes me sad for our political system as well as for the politicians themselves.

I don’t know the answer to this problem other than running for office myself and “putting my money where my mouth is.” However, that’s neither an attractive nor viable option. What I do know is this: I’ll vote for ANYONE running for ANY office who can answer questions posed to them directly and candidly. And, I can’t possibly be the only one who feels the way.