Listening instead of chatting: TV lesson with and for Bouffier

Talks with the Hessian Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) have their special charm. But that only applies if you are able to discover it. The problem is that his answers to the first two questions of his interlocutor can consume an entire hour. In Wiesbaden everyday knowledge is the reporter. One jokes about it, inevitably. He is also mischievously excited to see what the journalists will make of it later. And yet, it's a habit that Bouffier should urgently reconsider in 2021.

This applies in principle, but especially if, as is now suspected in Wiesbaden, he wants to apply for another term of office as Prime Minister.

Those who are generally well-disposed towards the CDU should criticize it the loudest: Because this type of communication is out of date.

Genuine interest in the other person requires listening, not lecturing, which, by the way, also applies to teachers and journalists these days.

The braking of unpopular questions does not succeed (anymore) anyway.

There are enough other channels on which the questioners can make themselves heard.

A little discipline doesn't hurt

Now such an interview situation in a small circle in the State Chancellery is one thing; a Bouffier lesson in front of an audience of millions on the talk show "Anne Will" is potentially even more damaging. During his tenure, Bouffier has seen so many SPD chairmen come and go that he may no longer necessarily have to know whether the current representative with the surname is Esken or Eskens ("Esken is my name, without s"). Towards the end of the show, however, three other protagonists, namely Robert Habeck (Die Grünen), Saskia Esken and the presenter, interrupting the conversation at the same time to just repeat the familiar one more time, that is not possible. So the moderation was prevented in principle because of the upcoming topics of the day, the others no longer had their say, and the audience wondered what it was about now.

That harms Bouffier and the CDU more than it does, in fact considerably more. Which is why well-meaning people from his environment should point this out to the Hessian Prime Minister: “I don't think it's fair,” said the moderator - and the audience, as well as everyone who has ever sat on a stage as a moderator, will agree wholeheartedly. Listening is better than chatting, a little discipline won't hurt. A politician as experienced as Bouffier actually knows that. He can do better. And he has to do better in the future.