Does a politician's "make sure" sound like a promise to you, or are they weasel words?

Meaningless buzzwords. Sort of like “freedom” and “independence”.

Empty rhetoric. They all say such things as if we are electing Caeser, and not simply the American chief executive, who has about as much power to” make sure” of anything as Congress will grant.

Saying ‘I will make sure’ is weaker than saying ‘I will’. I will is a definite promise that might come back to haunt the person saying it. For example there were a few things Obama wanted to accomplish in his first term that proved politically impossible. ‘Want to’ is even weaker and means almost nothing. “I want every American to have first class health care at a price they can afford.” Even I can say that.

Can ANY politician make sure of anything? It is not like they can say “this will happen”, or “that will certainly not happen” because they are just one cog in a vast machine. It would make as much sense as one piston saying it will speed up 30% faster than the others when they are all connected and has to work with the others.

I was under the impression that politician’s are salesman and nothing more. They have to say what they need to so gullible people will buy into it.

This is why I’m confused that there are actually debates: are people really using debates to find out what these people will or will not do?

I never understood why people would get upset that a politician lied. “Obama said he would cut the debt in half, but he didn’t! We need someone that will!”. Not realizing that it’s impossible to do such a thing.

On has to actually determine if a politicians promise is feasible before they absorb every statement they say as truth (which is already ignorant in the first place).

You must evaluate on a case by case basis if the candidate is committed to the policy in question or is just trying to sound reassuring. Look at their past statements of support or non-support for the issue. Decide for yourself to what the candidate is truly committed to do and make your decisions accordingly.

@Jeruba I’ve been noticing this a lot lately, too. I think it’s an effort to be “folksy”, rather than to weasel out of a promise. There’s no difference at all between “I promise that…” and “I’ll make sure that…”

But either way, it’s annoying.

Thanks, @flutherother and @glacial, for understanding that I was asking how this choice of language impresses you and not seeking advice on how to understand a politician’s message.

I also thought it was simply interesting to note the patterns of locutions that the debaters fell into and how the way they framed their remarks almost seemed to cancel out the very things they were stating.

“Make sure” is describing a goal, not that they can actually determine an outcome. It does not describe the process. Same with “I want to..” .

“I want t o make sure you participate in the prosperity.” means less than a zero lurve answer on Fluther.

“Make sure” definitely doesn’t seem as strong as a promise, to me. Especially when they use it in this kind of context: “I want to reform the tax system, but will make sure (X,Y,Z).” It becomes an “if, then” statement, at that point. Very vague.

Honest Politicians don’t remain politicians very long.