Obama and the Teleprompter: Don't Buy the Conservative Talking Points

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Maybe these Obama haters just merely forgot that he addressed a GOP Congessional luncheon a year or so ago and used no notes or telepromter. He also answered questions from them.

P. Walnutz of NH 4:30PM October 20, 2011

It's not a criticism the he uses prepared remarks- it's a valid point that he seems completely incapable uttering a simple declarative sentence WITHOUT prepared remarks. His faltering, stuttering style when forced to speak extemporaneously flies in the face of the narrative from the left that he's a "gifted orator." If anything, he's a good reader- but then so are a lot of us. What else has he brought to the office?

SeattleConservative of WA 6:37PM October 19, 2011

Robert,
You forgot the main reason President Obama uses a teleprompter to such an extent: he and those around him are afraid of what he might say off the cuff. His true desires are much farther left than what he has stated in public, and he doesn't want us to know this - yet. If he wins re-election, I'll wager that we will see a lot less of TOTUS.

TR Oliver of CA 5:33PM October 19, 2011

Obama can't speak without a teleprompter!
Bush J, Bush S, Reagan, hell even Clinton, avoided the teleprompter. Obama sounds like Dan Q. without his prompter.
Seeya at the revolution!

Bryan of AZ 5:12PM May 08, 2009

No, this man is decidedly NOT, as the Liberal media would have us believe, the Cicero of his generation. Can he deliver a well-prepared speech? Better than the best! But left to his own devices, he stammers, and hems-and-haws with the best of them (allright, a couple of notches above Dubya).
I must say, that besides my fundamental concerns about the man addressing every major issue on this planet in his first 45-days - after all, when the financial house is on fire, get rid of the pointy head designers and architects and bring in the firemen - Obama's whipsawing head between the teleprompters is both distracting and dislillusioning.
Does Obama ever look directly into the camera and address the American people?

Cary of CA 11:55PM March 10, 2009

Want to know why we get so many close up shots of the President when he is on TV. It's because they have to zoom in close to get the telepromters out of the picture. I'm glad this is finally being discussed. I'm starting to wonder if he is the Manchurian candidate.

JG of ME 9:27PM March 10, 2009

Watch and listen to President Obama when his teleprompter failed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omHUsRTYFAU

Theodis of MI 7:49PM March 10, 2009

Robert Schlesinger's defense of Obama and his teleprompter is half-hearted at best. He basically provides a list of other presidents who didn't need teleprompters and then says this proves that Obama isn't unusual for needing one.
Likening a teleprompter to prepared remarks is absurd. Prepared remarks or an outline allow a politician to keep a list of key points, but he or she is still a human being who must express their own ideas.
A teleprompter guides the speaker literally word by word. Furthermore, unlike prepared remarks, a teleprompter is a deliberately deceitful and hidden device. It was designed for live television to give the impression of spontaneity. With a little training, a teleprompter can make anyone except the most feeble-minded or illiterate look smooth and articulate.
Furthermore, the mere fact it was designed for television demonstrates how it's different from other historical rhetoric. Teleprompters have existed for less than 50 years, while oratory has a history stretching back millenia. They are as revolutionary to speechmaking as was gunpowder to warfare or the printing press to literature.
The fact the current president relies so heavily on this device, which must be operated by other people and can be tampered with, is definitely a story worth discussing. It may indicate an underlying unfamiliarity with basic issues and an inability to respond competentently when things deviate from the script.

DJR of NY 11:18AM March 10, 2009

Was Jindal using a teleprompter the night he gave the rebuttal to Obama's speech to the Congress?

Phoghorn of AL 9:25AM March 10, 2009

Its not that he uses a teleprompter, its that he uses one inordinately and everywhere. Just like you are inordinately defending this guy for his reliance on a teleprompter. Its a weakness he has and obviously a weakness you have for him.

P.Diddy of NV 11:50PM March 09, 2009