Flub the Answer? Don't Blame the Interviewer.

What do former New York Yankees great Jorge Posada and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush have in common?  This week, they both backpedaled faster than an NFL defensive back from answers they gave in media interviews.  They both also tried to lay blame for their flub at the feet of the interviewer.  C'mon guys. You're both big boys now. When you've spent years in the media spotlight, that excuse just doesn't cut it.

Posada's flub, which occurred while on a media tour to promote his new memoir, came in the form of a statement that former teammate Alex Rodriguez (and all other players who used PED's) should not be allowed entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Then suddenly, Posada, a former catcher, changed the sign on us by texting an apology to A-Rod and pointing the finger of blame at a predictable target: the media.

“I feel like I was cornered into this answer. I know better. I was really caught off-guard.”

Caught off guard?  Jorge, please!  Over your 16-year baseball career you have easily done close to three thousand media interviews.  Not even Mike Wallace in his heyday could bully or trick you into saying something you didn't mean.  

As someone who has media coached hundreds of authors over the years, including Posada's former teammates Mariano Rivera, Paul O'Neill and Dwight Gooden, I can say with certainty that there is virtually no chance Posada's media prep (if he had any) didn't include a strategy around how to answer the A-Rod question. Controversy sells books you say, so this flap is all a clever, just-spell-my-name-right strategy?  I might be inclined to agree with you had Posada, in his retraction, not gone on to say something that must have made his publisher cringe.  He essentially declared that his book is boring and not worth reading: “The thing is, the book is not a controversial book.”  In the book publicity game, that's the kiss of death.

Jeb Bush's week wasn't much better.  His first mistake was entertaining a question that was a hypothetical, which breaks the rules of Media Training 101: would he have declared war in Iraq had he known the intelligence preceding it was flawed?  His answer should have been, "Over the years I have never Monday Morning Quarterback'ed my brother's Oval Office decisions and I'm not about to start now."  Instead, Bush seemed to suggest that yes, he still would have authorized the war.  Soon though, Bush claimed that he misunderstood the question.  Again, I might be inclined to accept that if it weren't for the fact that politicians are trained NOT to answer specific questions, but to instead deliver their talking points around topics raised in the questions.

Then, like Posada, Bush just made the mess worse by later saying he refused to answer such hypothetical questions.  Too late.  That toothpaste is already out of the tube.  If you don't want to play the "what if" game then refuse to play it from the start, otherwise it merely looks like you're picking and choosing to answer those hypotheticals that suit your needs. 

In any Q&A scenario, it's best not to dive into an answer off an ambiguous question.  Whether it's a job interview or an industry panel, you as the interviewee are well within your rights to ask for clarification if the question is vague or confusing.  It is also your right to refrain from engaging in speculation without a sufficient amount of time to take a thoughtful approach to your answer.  If you don't exercise those rights, you may back yourself into a corner like Jeb & Jorge where the most convenient escape route is to blame the interviewer.