The New York Times takes note of President Obama’s seeming dependence on teleprompters:
Presidents have been using teleprompters for more than half a century, but none have relied on them as extensively as Mr. Obama has so far. While presidents typically have used them for their most important speeches — an inaugural, State of the Union or Oval Office address — Mr. Obama uses them for routine announcements and even for the opening statement of his only news conference so far.
He used them during a visit to a Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill. He used them to make brief remarks opening his “fiscal responsibility summit.” He used them to discuss endangered species, even recalling a visit to national parks as an 11-year-old. “That was an experience I will never forget,” he said, reading from the teleprompter.
For Mr. Obama, a teleprompter means message discipline, sticking close to the intended words. While some presidents prefer extemporizing, Mr. Obama likes the message to be just so. After all, he is a best-selling author who has helped write a lot of his major speeches, so he presumably feels a certain fidelity to the crafted text.
Michael Waldman, who was President Bill Clinton’s chief speechwriter, said Mr. Obama was one of the few politicians able to use a teleprompter effectively.
“If he were just reading something someone handed him and didn’t understand what it said, that would be one thing,” Mr. Waldman said. “But I don’t think anybody doubts that he’s expressing his own thoughts.”
Not everyone agrees, though:
Bradley A. Blakeman, a former aide to President George W. Bush, said the teleprompter made Mr. Obama look robotic.
“He is extremely scripted,” Mr. Blakeman said, “and he is cautious to the max and afraid of gaffes.”
When answering questions without a script, Mr. Blakeman said, “his speech is very halted and you can see him take a lot of time to think about what he’s going to say.”
Blakeman is right about that last part; Barack Obama is not a very good extemporaneous speaker. More often than not, his speech is halting and, whatever the reason for it, it doesn’t really come across very well. That’s probably the reason why he’s making so much use of the teleprompter.
bec. obama is a fake. he borrowed Hillary’s platform and discarded his own. bill ayers ghost-wrote Dreams from my Father. and he is a hollow man. with no US birth certificate.. Doug, if you insist on drinking his Kool Aid, at least we did our best to warn you.
And any judge who refuses to accept a case to settle in court whether Barack is natural born is the one wasting his own law degree.. shame..