President Obama Should Leave the Teleprompter at Home
April 27, 2009 · By Greg Farries
Over 100 days in office and that damn teleprompter keeps getting in the way. Seriously, how many more painful videos do we have to watch of the President looking like a jackass before he figures out prepared notes are a better solution?
“In addition to John – sorry, the – I just noticed I jumped the gun here,” Obama said, pausing for several seconds as he looked at the prompter. “Go ahead. Move it up. I had already introduced all you guys.”
I find highly peculiar and telling that Obama is not controlling the cueing of the teleprompter himself. In this day and age of wireless gadgetry, he could be in more control.
Obama the Great Orator! NOT!
Yes, we all miss the days of that brilliant and articulate intellectual, George Bush.
Oh, well. All Obama has going for him is a huge approval rating and a new level of respect for the US around the world.
I never stated George Bush was some great orator. He clearly wasn’t, and yet Obama gets heaps of praise contrary to the evidence displayed regularly. It’s becoming more and more clear Obama simple cannot function publicly without the use of a teleprompter. Makes me question whose actually speaking, his 27 year old speech-writer, or Obama himself.
Who knew the secret of “huge approval rating[s] and a new level of respect ” worldwide would come from the screen for a teleprompter?
If that is indeed the state of leadership in modern politics then it’s pretty clear we’re heading for disaster in short order.
Heh. Greg, I write speeches for people. Some use a teleprompter. Some use notes as prompts. Some use index cards as prompts. Some use binders as prompts. I’m an index card guy myself. (Teleprompters are hard for older eyes.) Doesn’t matter – they’re all tools that do exactly the same thing. It’s odd, and a bit funny, to see conservatives fixating on Obama’s choice of prompt mechanism, but if that’s the biggest complaint they have, I guess the guy must be doing a pretty good job. Certainly most Americans seem to think so.
As an orator – well, from a professional perspective, he beats the pants off both Bushes, John Kerry, McCain, Carter, Ford, and Nixon.
Clinton was a good speaker – good style, funny, personable – but never really delivered a knockout speech.
Reagan was the best speaker since Kennedy, who was probably the best speaker since Roosevelt.
I’ll listen to a thousand George Bush’s over one clueless Obama.
His press secretary (Gibbs) is equally pathetic.
“I’ll listen to a thousand George Bush’s over one clueless Obama. ”
i don’t doubt it.
Dalton,
This is very simple. Repeat something often enough and people will believe it.
Greg started this nonsense a couple months back and will repeat it periodically. Eventually the readers of this site will begin to accept it as fact.
Give him a couple more weeks, and he’ll be posting this exact same thing again. Anyone care to imagine how McCain would be doing with a teleprompter? Maybe his daughter could explain it to him…
Repeat what? That Obama seems incapable of speaking publicly without the aid of a teleprompter? Here’s a simple solution for the Obama cheerleaders, encourage Obama to consider the importance of substance over style. We all know he can look good while reading off a teleprompter, now can he look good while speaking from the cuff?
I’ve never supported McCain in the past, so I’m not sure why you thought to bring it up in defense of Obama. And the crack about his daughter, again, I’m not sure what your point is? That he’s too old to read off of a teleprompter?
However, if McCain was making an ass out of himself through the use of a teleprompter (and repeatedly ignoring the obvious), then you can expect I would make a point of it on this blog.
I’m surprised RD, you have clearly read my work on here before – you know I’m not some rabid partisan looking to make Obama look bad. I’m just pointing out the obvious – Obama seems to incapable of ditching his crutch, the teleprompter.
I think it’s funny and kinda pathetic, so you can be assured, I’m going to point it out every opportunity I get.
Looking forward to hearing George Bush speak in a few weeks. Unfortunately, Clinton, the rapist, is going to be there too.
Greg, you kind of missed the entire point of my response, which is this: the teleprompter is simply a tool, like index cards, notes, or a briefing binder.
Reagan used index cards. George Bush used 8 * 11 double spaced sheets printed in 18 point characters.
Why exactly are you guys making such a foolish fetish out of Obama’s preference for a teleprompter as his assist???
President Obeyme, the so-called Great Orator, is a sham. He is unable to speak WITHOUT his “assist”, unlike Bush or Reagan.
Try watching this and then tell me that you would not prefer to be waterboarded than ever having to watch and listen to anything so pathetic ever again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxBX8sz3tO8
Just awful. Without his “assist” he is at a loss for words.
Your views on the quality of oratory would be bit more compelling, Silvernails, if (a) you actually said something more profound than “Obama sucks”, and (b) you didn’t repeat yourself in a two paragraph post.
Forgive me, but, with all due respect, that profundity of comment tends to diminish the weight of your credendials as a literary critic.
Err, no, I didn’t miss the point.
I acknowledge the teleprompter is a tool – that’s never been in question. I agree, over the years plenty of politicians have used a teleprompter, but none – as far as I’m aware – have used the teleprompter to the extent that Obama has.
I’m surprised you don’t see the irony in all of this. Obama has been repeatedly praised for his orator skills, yet as witnessed by the evidence I’ve posted (among other evidence available online), he owes most of this praise to the teleprompter. He clearly isn’t familiar with the copy he is being given to read, as in numerous cases, he simply reads whatever is posted on the teleprompter.
I’ve done my fair share of speaking in front of large groups and I’ve never once accidentally read someone’s notes. Of course I didn’t have pleasure of having a sophisticated teleprompter to queue my words and polish my style, but hell, no one can argue that I wasn’t in complete control of what came out of my mouth.
Seriously, watch this video and tell me he isn’t lost without his teleprompter. He has no idea what’s coming out of his mouth. I could see the malfunction of the teleprompter to cause anyone to stumble – for a moment – but Obama doesn’t recover. He painfully stumbled around the stage grasping for words that never came. He couldn’t even shift the discussion to something he does know something about – something politicians are known for doing when in a pinch. That video and the others I’ve linked to are far more painful to watch then say… President Bush’s pronunciation of “nuclear” and yet somehow Bush was the illiterate moron.
However this isn’t about comparing Obama to Bush, there is a bigger issue at play here – an undercurrent to the whole point of my postings – in which President Obama seems to be getting a pass when it comes to his obvious shortfalls. Actually, it’s not just a pass; it’s a complete reversal of reality. Obama has yet to show – in any great depth – a true grasp for the great orator skills he has been elegantly bestowed by the adoring supporters and the complicit media.
“None – as far as I’m aware – have used the teleprompter to the extent that Obama has. ”
Demurrer duly noted, but do you have ANY evidence of that all? And returning to the point…so what? Speakers who don’t use teleprompters use index cards or notes or briefing binders. I am mystified at the desperate need to disparage that holds one method to be somehow more risible than the others.
And I understand your “real”, as explained. Obama won, and continues to enjoy high levels of popular approval domestically and internationally. I know that’s galling. But there’s plenty of substance to criticize, and to see the debate trivialized into idiotic minutiae like his choice of prompting device – well, it’s getting almost clinical.
Dalton,
WBush had more control over his speeches than does Obama because W had to turn his own pages. That is a huge difference. Sure, a teleprompter is just a tool as are index cards. However, a teleprompter makes the speaker a tool too in a manner in which index cards could never.
Greg,
Out of curiosity, can you think of any single Canadian leader who is or was as bad as Bush or Obama? I can not. I even think Chretien sounds like a clever independent speaker over those two.
Pot calling the kettle black Dalty? I refer to YOUR own little four-word profundity “I don’t doubt it”.
Not to mention your repetitve posts in this thread.
That Obama won, isn’t the “galling” part. That Obama won because 97% of blacks voted for him solely because he “looks” black (I say “looks” because everyone forgets that he is half white), without knowing a single thing about his policies and strongly socialist bent, is the “galling” part.
Charles, you have been a victim of NBC or the CBC or whatever lamestream media you follow if you are calling Bush one of the worst Presidents. Even the smallest grammatical gaffe was magnified a thousand times by the media. No such coverage of President Obeyme, only slavish adoration.
A reporter from the New York Slimes actually asked Obama what he has so far been “enchanted” by during his first 100 days as president! LOL! The Pansy Press presses on! They cannot kiss Obama’s hand enough!
SilverSnail,
I am calling WBush one of the worst orators amongst the presidents.
I happen to believe he is one of the worst presidents too but we are talking about oratory skills and performance here. That much should be obvious.
You’ll note, Silvernails, that comments of substance elicit substantive responses. Greg, Charles and I are having quite a good chat.
Charles, Bush was, indeed, an atrocious speaker. He had about two vocal pitches, and a tendency to fall into this annoying, hectoring cadence that sounded vaguely aggrieved. He was actually quite good in one on ones, quite funny and personable. But he couldn’t deliver a “speech” to save his life.
Obama’s pretty good. He’s got a few stock pitches too, but he’s getting better already. Nowhere near Reagan or Kennedy yet.
To answer your other question, Charles – I’d nominate John Turner as one of our worst. Curiously, we’ve had a pretty good run of really remarkable orators in the PM’s Chair. MacKenzie King, John Diefenbaker, Mike Pearson (charismatic as laundry detergent, but a great writer), Trudeau (like him or not, the man could orate), Mulroney. Chretien was effective and popular, but not a great speaker: Martin and Harper, both awful.
Most missed: John Crosbie.