Donald, Take It From Another Senior: Land the Plane

Mr. President, I confess to being a fan—up to a point. Sometimes that point arrives several minutes before the end of your answer.  Your recent interview on “60 Minutes” drove home that fact.

Before my very first television interview following my daughter Alisa’s murder in a 1995 terror attack, I received this advice: “If the interviewer asks a question you don’t want to answer, answer a different question.”

So I understand the maneuver. But there should be a limit to how many different questions you answer before the interviewer gets to ask another one.

As a fellow senior citizen, I offer a few friendly suggestions.

One question, one answer. Preferably the question you were asked, although I recognize that my first television adviser might disagree. Think of it as the express checkout lane. If you’ve brought 17 subjects, you’re in the wrong line.

Use an index card. Write three points on it. Reading glasses are permitted, they can make you look thoughtful. Additional points require a separate appointment.

Let the period do its job. It has served the English language faithfully for centuries. Give it some work.

Borrow my daughter’s warning system. Ilana is one of my best listeners, but she has rules. As I am in my dotage, if I tell her something I’ve already told her, she says, “Beep.” If I begin telling her something my wife has already told her, she says, “Honk.”

It’s an efficient system. One sound means I’m repeating myself; the other means my wife’s reporting got there first.

Mr. President, consider stationing someone opposite you with similar instructions. No lengthy briefing. No discreet memo afterward. Just “beep” when you’ve made the point already. Should the interview begin sounding like traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike, move to the next question.

Remember that “60 Minutes” is the program’s title. It is not the suggested length of each answer.

And when you have made a good point, stop. You’ve spent years in real estate. You know the value of a closing.

I offer this with affection and some self-awareness. At our age, we have accumulated a great deal of experience. The challenge is resisting the urge to include all of it in the same sentence.

Make the point. Land the plane. Some of us would like to get home before dark.

Beep.