If there’s one phrase that guarantees an audible groan in our home?
A politician responding to a straight question with the formulaic: “we have been clear.”
(Or it’s more defiant cousin, “we have been VERY clear.”)
It is too said frequently in media interviews.
By people of all political persuasions. Even if, hand on heart, they think they have been clear… it’s awful.
It assumes:
People were listening.
People understood.
People grasp the complex machinery of government.
It’s not clarity.
It’s arrogance.
It’s patronising.
Being elected means explaining the “what, why and how.”
Not once. Not twice. Continually.
Clarity isn’t something you claim. It’s something the audience confirms.
If you have actually been clear, you will never need to say it.
So, next media training session, please knock this one off the list of potential holding lines.
