Why is asking about beliefs within the government off-topic?

Question

I asked this question. It just got closed.

Some users misunderstood the question and thought I was asking to explain the sentence (nonetheless, they wrote some very interesting answers), although the post was about the U. S. politicians using it publicly. I reckon such a question to be objective as the answer would have been: "?? used this phrase in this context in 19??" or "This idea was underlying State Department's act of 19??" (truth be told, if for some reason, it has never been used whatsoever, there would have been a bit more subjective answer telling why the U. S. politicians do not say such things).

So, why has it got closed? How can I get it reopened?

Answer 1

I did not vote to close, but a general issue with a question of this type:

Why would someone say X?

is that it can easily be too broad and thus admit no clear best answer if "someone" isn't even remotely specified. In fact, the 3 answers you've received kinda illustrate this problem as they all propose different explanations, from different "someones" perspectives and in somewhat different contexts (short term political view during some specific negotiations, long-term historical perspective, etc.)

Answer 2

It really should have been closed for a different reason but you are asking for us to make guesses at the motivations of people.

Questions asking for the internal motivations of people, how specific individuals would behave in hypothetical situations or predictions for future events are off-topic, because answers would be based on speculation and their correctness could not be verified with sources available to the public.

Answer 3

A question gets reopened if it collects 5 reopen votes by people who have enough reputation to vote.

Sometimes it makes sense for the author to improve the question in order to address criticisms. Sometimes it's a matter of debate between experienced users whether a question is on-topic or not, it seems to be the case for your question. If the debate cannot be settled, a moderator will make the final decision.

Currently your question has 3 reopen votes.