Political word of the week: pivot
Pivot:听A buzzword with a dual political meaning: A comprehensive change in campaign strategy, as well as the practice of ducking uncomfortable issues or questions by emphasizing something favorable.
We are in prime pivot season. Just look at the latest avalanche of articles about Donald Trump. The : 鈥淥n Capitol Hill, Republicans Watch for Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥楶ivot.鈥� 鈥欌�� And the : 鈥淭rump Begins Pivot to November, Bashes Clinton, Warren.鈥� Plus the : 鈥淣o, Donald Trump Can鈥檛 鈥楶ivot鈥� Away from Racism.鈥�
Hillary Clinton is pivoting, too. Her sudden availability to the press, after months of avoiding reporters, led The to wonder: 鈥淗illary Clinton鈥檚 Media Pivot?鈥� And the persistent controversy involving her use of a private e-mail server as secretary of State led to from Politico: 鈥淓mails block Clinton pivot to positive.鈥�
Why is it so ubiquitous? Brad Phillips, a former journalist who is now a media coach and observes politicians鈥� communications skills on his said it reflects journalists鈥� growing usurpation of the lingo of political and media advisers.
鈥淲hen I started Phillips Media Relations in 2004, not nearly as many 鈥榮traight鈥� reporters were analyzing politicians through the prism of media training,鈥� Mr. Phillips said. 鈥淢y articles at that time had a unique angle 鈥� they assessed, with some specificity, the communications style of public figures rather than overarching political strategies. Fast forward a decade, it seems almost every blogger, pundit, reporter and tweeter sees the world as a media trainer does. They now speak a shared language, with terms such as 鈥榩ivoting鈥� and 鈥榖ridging鈥� and 鈥榦ptics鈥� and 鈥榞affes鈥� pervading a surprising number of their stories.鈥�
That鈥檚 irksome to NPR鈥檚 Scott Simon, who in a commentary last weekend that pivot 鈥渉as become part of the special vocabulary of this campaign鈥� and is not as clear in meaning as it could be.
鈥淪aying 鈥榩ivot鈥� instead of 鈥榗hange鈥� may not be wrong,鈥� Mr. Simon said. 鈥淏ut the hundredth time you've heard it bounce off the echo chamber of pundits and analysts, it begins to smack of smug insider-ness. Imagine if Muhammad Ali, the masterful communicator who was laid to rest yesterday, had made his motto, 鈥楶ivot like a butterfly, sting like a bee!鈥欌�欌��
Its popularity also may spring from the fact that politicians themselves are invoking the word more often. Its use in House and Senate floor debates has over the past decade, according to the Sunlight Foundation鈥檚 invaluable Capitol Words website. The word鈥檚 most frequent user: Kentucky鈥檚 Mitch McConnell (R), the Senate majority leader. (The overall use of 鈥減ivot鈥� has been over the last century, according to Google鈥檚 Ngram Viewer.)
At the same time, the Obama administration has relied on 鈥減ivot鈥� whenever it has sought to concentrate on addressing unemployment or other issues instead of whatever real or perceived scandal has been in the news.
鈥淚t feels like every couple of months I am reporting that the White House is announcing that they are pivoting to a jobs agenda, and something else happens,鈥� Jake Tapper, then a White House correspondent for ABC News, in 2011.
Geoffrey Nunberg, a University of California, Berkeley, linguist and author of several books on language, said that in politics, as in basketball, successful pivoting has to be done with some subtlety.
鈥淚n both basketball and politics, the important thing is to keep one foot fixed while moving the other,鈥� Nunberg said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛, it鈥檚 traveling, which is viewed disapprovingly by both the refs and the public -- though in the latter case it goes by the name of flip-flopping.鈥�
Chuck McCutcheon writes his 鈥淪peaking Politics鈥� blog exclusively for Politics Voices.
Interested in decoding what candidates are saying? Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark鈥檚 latest book, 鈥淒oubletalk: The Language, Code, and Jargon of a Presidential Election,鈥� is 听
