Observers have often been puzzled by Betsy DeVos’s opacity. Sometimes she seems baffled by simple questions. Sometimes she gives an answer that dodges the question. Sometimes she has no answer.
What she always has is a half-smile that appears to be a smirk. I have called it the Billionaire’s Smirk. It is a smile that says I am very, very rich, and you are not. You will never be. I am somebody. You are nobody.
Peter Greene explains in detail why she ignores the questions that members of Congress ask her. She feels no need to answer her inferiors. She is not only richer than their wildest dreams. She is on a mission from God.
Why should she respond unless she feels like it?
http://curmudgucation.blogspot.com/2018/05/betsy-devos-does-not-owe-you-damned.html
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DeVos is doing exactly what this Administration wants her to do!
I’m moving over a comment from the Splinter article about the video of the exchange between Devos and the Congressman.
These corporate ed. reform folks celebrate the private sector as the answer to everything, but the commenter humorously parodies how Devos’ (non-)answers would actually play out in that same private sector:
https://splinternews.com/betsy-devos-displays-her-powerful-inability-to-answer-e-1826229390
x x x x x x x x x
She sounds like someone in business who didn’t even start her big financial presentation to the board until the day it was due.
SUPERVISOR: “So how will your proposal help the company save money?”
EMPLOYEE: “It’ll help the company save money by utilizing whatever processes that will allow the company to spend less money.”
SUPERVISOR: ““Uh, ok. So what methods will these processes use in order to reduce expenses?”
EMPLOYEE: “The processes will use all the methods that are available to help achieve the goal of reducing expenses.”
SUPERVISOR: ““So HOW does your proposal accomplish this?”
EMPLOYEE: “In all ways that the company requires it to be accomplished.”
SUPERVISOR: ““Clean out your f—ing desk.”
Thanks for the link. The comments are great!
DeVos knows exactly what she is doing. She talks around in circles and turns the question into a statement in order to avoid a straight, honest answer. She is a master of circumlocution. When in doubt, she has a few default statements she whips out.
This seems to be what a whole lot of people in the current administration do.
Is there a circumlocution school that they are all being sent to?
My comment at curmudgucation:
Saw this on CSPAN, I think you have it right. The smiling hesitation almost passes for dumb-blondism– a mask for rigid righteousness that may have served her well on the way up. But it’s always accompanied by an almost-imperceptible shake of the head “no,” which is the giveaway. “No,” I don’t cede any point you’re about to make, “no,” I don’t buy into your sloppy liberal agenda, “no,” I don’t answer to ‘the people.’
there needs to be concern for that which Bill Gates and Arne Duncan arrogantly feel no responsibility to answer.