President Barack Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his TelePrompter.
The textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he speaks.
Resting on top of a tall, narrow pole, they flank his podium during speeches in the White House’s stately parlors. They stood next to him on the floor of a manufacturing plant in Indiana as he pitched his economic stimulus plan. They traveled to the Department of Transportation this week and were in the Capitol Rotunda last month when he paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln in six-minute prepared remarks.
Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual — not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.
After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no such luck.
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In a break from his routine, Obama did not use a teleprompter during his pre-Inauguration speech at a factory in Bedford Heights, Ohio — and his delivery seemed to suffer. He paused too long at parts. He accentuated the wrong words. And overall he sounded hesitant and halting as he spoke from the prepared remarks on the podium.
... Obama has shown in the past that he needs the teleprompter. And while he still has his prepared remarks placed on the podium in a leather folder, the White House has shown no sign of trying to wean him off of it.
What is it about a teleprompter that makes Obama fluent? Without it he’s verbally inept. Without notes he makes almost as many gaffes as Biden (abortion is above his pay grade). Why is this disturbing? I have thought about it and can’t put my finger on it, but it is. What is the conncection between the teleprompter and Obama's brain?
2 comments:
One of my kids said "his brain is empty."
Another explanation is that his ideas aren't fully developed or understood in his mind, or deeply held in his heart. So he can't improvise or explain himself well. Similar to knowing only one route to a destination. If you meet with a detour, you're totally lost. If you really know the terrain you can find your way there. His knowledge is shallow.
Just speculating. He's a puzzle I'm trying to put together.
Here’s an alternative explanation. He is a radical who is presenting himself as a moderate. If he were to say what he really thinks, his façade would be shattered. So he has to choose his words very carefully and stumbles and stutters unless he's carefully scripted.
Always remember that he believes his greatest asset is to appear as a blank screen on which others can project their fantasies. He has said so many times. He is the black man who is “non threatening.” So white people will be grateful and support him to show how “progressive” they are.
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