Critics of Gov.-Elect Maura Healey ought to cut the woman some slack.
Just because she speaks in platitudes, like Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, is no reason to believe that she thinks that way or does not know what she is talking about.
Maybe she is knowledgeable and does have a plan for governing but is saving it for her inaugural address on Jan. 5 when she takes over from Gov. Charlie Baker.
That is when Healey, the two-term progressive attorney general, becomes the first woman elected governor of Massachusetts who also happens to be the first openly gay chief executive.
Presumably, at that time, she will get around to outlining some specifics — something she avoided doing during her walk-in-the-park campaign for governor, as well as during her rare post-election appearances.
Her campaign strategy to avoid appearances with Republican Geoff Diehl, her underfunded Trump-supporting opponent, worked, and the woke-dominated media let her get away with it.
Nobody even asked her where she lives or who she lives with.
She ran a phantom campaign, holding few, if any, press conferences, held only controlled and limited public appearances and did her best to stiff-arm even admiring reporters. They cheered her on anyway.
As long as she attacked Donald Trump, and tied a dazed Geoff Diehl to the former president, it was okay with them.
After all, she sued Trump 100 times, acting more like a tort lawyer than the state’s chief law officer.
But that was all right with the woke media because the press hates Trump as much as Healey and the Democrats do.
But now that is over, and Healey as governor will not be suing Trump anymore, although she could persuade her handpicked successor as attorney general, Andrea Campbell, to keep on hounding him.
An interesting development in all of this is how the media is suddenly asking Healey questions about governing that they avoided asking during the campaign.
And, unlike the campaign, they are starting to get miffed over her platitudinal replies.
These questions concern her plans for the ailing MBTA and transportation, the state’s housing crisis, the influx of homeless illegal immigrants, the general hopelessness and open-air drug market down at Mass and Cass, rent control, and rising crime.
While Healey’s appearances at the State House have been rare and unannounced, a reporter did catch her there last week and asked her about her potential Cabinet appointees.
She replied, “They may come from within, they may come from outside, they may come from outside of state government, but that’s really what our focus is right now.”
They may be coming around the mountain, too, for all we know.
She did name three top hires on Monday but hid from the press and took no questions.
Asked earlier if she and Lt. Gov.-Elect Kim Driscoll would have her Cabinet filled by Jan.5, she replied, “We’re going to have to see about that.”
In other words, we’re not telling you.
Another technique for avoiding answering questions is to keep on talking about a team or a committee to do the talking for you.
Asked about what she would do about Mayor Wu’s plea for help down at Mass and Cass following a meeting with Wu last week, Healey said,” What’s important here is that teams are talking — the state team talking with a team here in the City of Boston.”
Asked two days later at the State House about Gov. Baker’s $140 million immigrant aid bill stuck before the House Ways and Means committee, Healey said, “I know the administration and the Legislature will continue to talk.”
What about the ailing MBTA? “It’s critically important that we have a functioning T,” Healey said. “I look forward to more conversations with Mayor Wu about transportation and a whole bunch of things.”
Everybody’s talking, but she doesn’t hear a thing.
Perhaps long-awaited specifics on a whole bunch of things will become clear in Healey’s inaugural speech.
I’m just glad I don’t have to write it.
Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.