Obama and his teleprompter
A lot has been made of Obama’s reliance on teleprompters. Nothing new about that. This reliance has led to his reputation as an outstanding orator as well as provided some pretty remarkable gaffes. So, to me, the entire issue is something to observe and come to some conclusion much later. However, last night he did something I thought was kind of odd. Just watch for yourself:
It’s not so much that he loses his place in his speech, it’s the very casual way he actually talks to the teleprompter ( the person, not the screen ). He just stops what he’s doing and instructs the person where he needs the teleprompter to be. Now, this I think is just odd. However, since he had so many gaffes in the past when his teleprompter failed him, I can see the logic at this point of just stopping and getting things in sync. It’s not like the teleprompter is a secret at this point. However, it does seem a bit unnerving. What if this happens on a larger venue like the State of the Union address?
My main gripe with his reliance on a teleprompter is we have to just assume the words on the teleprompter are his. Some people are already tossing around the concept Obama’s part of the New World Order or a puppet of some entity. Stuff like this just makes it a much easier conspiracy theory to buy.
We’ve had two examples of oratory in the last few years. Bush was too off the cuff and unprepared, he needed a teleprompter. Obama seems too reliant on a strictly defined speech to the point where when his guide fails, he often seems lost and confused. That’s too much of a reliance. Now, I totally disagree with Obama’s politics, he’s WAY too liberal for me. However, he has a commanding presence and fantastic speaking voice. I would recommend he spend some time weening his reliance on the teleprompter. Sure, he’ll have some gaffes, but no one is perfect in any capacity. If he mis-speaks while winging it, that’s one thing. However, to have said some of the things he has said, while supposedly simply reading a teleprompter, is troublesome. Was there actually 57 states on the teleprompter? If so, why? Did he actually intend to thank himself in Ireland? If so, why? The gaffes are given some relevance, moreso than probably merited, because of the teleprompter. We don’t know if it’s working or not. We don’t know if these are his words or not. We don’t know if really meant what he said or is just being told what to say by someone else. Anyone can read convincingly, lieing about something convincingly is hard to do.
I think he should drop the teleprompters.
