Political Potted Plants

We've made it. We've endured five weeks of bad TV ads, political leaders making billions of dollars in promises, while doing their best to avoid questions from the media and we've even seen reporters put into pens like cattle.

Here's another great thing about the campaign coming to an end. The potted plants will be put back into storage.

Political Window Dressing

A good friend of mine sent me a text a couple of weeks ago wondering why the political leaders in the campaign have people standing on stages behind them when they give a speech, or answer questions from reporters.

I replied “They're called potted plants.”

Potted plants are party supporters who stand behind politicians when the news media is around. The reason they do it is simple – the politicians want to look like they have support from Jane and Joe Average, the people who will be voting today.

It’s nothing more than political theatre. It’s window dressing. It’s done with the intent to make the politician who is speaking look like he or she has people supporting what they’re saying.

I’m not sure where the potted plants thing started, but it might have been 9-11 when New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had leaders of the police, firefighters and port authority stand behind him at news conferences. It presented a united front to the public, one that tried to show everyone was working together.

Potted plants were probably done in politics several years before that, but I don’t remember them. It’s an epidemic now. Political leaders in this campaign can’t say a word with the media there without some potted plants behind them.

Too Many Nodding Heads

The potted plants do have a downside. Once people understand why they’re there, they realize how staged these public appearances are. To me, that’s a big drawback.

Perhaps a bigger problem is the way so many people smile and nod their heads in agreement with what the politician is saying.  I know I’m going to date myself, but some of these people nod their heads so much in agreement, they remind me of those little plastic dogs that used to sit on the back window ledges of cars and bobbed their heads as the car moved. That was when cars used to have back window ledges.

Quite frankly having supporters smile and nod their head so much detracts from what the politician is saying. I’m looking at them and thinking how staged it looks rather than listening to the point the politician is making.

My longtime friend and media colleague Dave Sieger sent me this clip when he read my blog earlier today. There's no audio, but It's gold.

One of the worst potted plants was former Trudeau Minister of Everything Chrystia Freeland. She not only constantly nodded her head, but almost looked like she wanted to start waving pom poms to cheer the PM on as he spoke. It was a little bizarre.

I found it difficult to think she had any ideas different than Trudeau since she seemed to support anything he said so strongly. I wonder if that potted plant action had anything to do with her getting only 8% of the Liberal Leadership vote in March?

Candid Camera

The potted plants can have other unintended consequences. I remember in 2020 when Anthony Fauci was standing behind President Trump at one of his many COVID news conferences. Remember when Trump made an outrageous statement about COVID and Fauci was seen painfully rubbing his forehead and wondering what he would tell the media about Trump’s latest misstep?

Not being a potted plant doesn’t mean your reaction still won’t get on camera. When Trump wanted to kill COVID with light and bleach, Deborah Birx’ stunned reaction was caught on camera even though she was seated beside the stage. Bottom line is, you’re not safe when cameras are around and politicians are saying crazy things.

Throughout the US election campaign, Trump spoke with several rows of people behind him, likely to show he had support and to give the impression the venue he was speaking in was packed. I’ve noticed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did the same thing in this campaign. Prime Minister Carney did too at times.

While it may look impressive, as somebody who speaks in front of groups large and small, I’m conscious about turning my back to people as I speak. I usually find myself apologizing when I realize I’ve been speaking and someone has been looking at my back. Imagine being at a political rally and having to look at someone’s backside for over an hour?

Speaking “in the round” is a difficult thing to do. I know it looks better on camera, but when you have people sitting all around you, somebody isn’t getting a good view.

The good news is, we’ve almost made it. Tonight, there will be winners and losers speaking with supporters lined up behind them and then the potted plants will be put into storage for awhile, only to be brought back out for the next big announcement.