Following this and this.
Obama's opening statement at this evening's press conference, delivered no doubt with the help of a teleprompter, sounded smoother and more polished than his real-time answers through the rest of the event.
The same is true for any public figure who has learned to use a
teleprompter (harder than it seems) and whose teleprompter-ready
material suits his or her natural speaking style. It sounds smoother
than extemporized speech because it should be smoother. People don't
naturally speak in parsed and polished sentences, even eloquent people.
When we are listening to what we know is spontaneous rather than
scripted speech, we listen in a different way -- we listen past
grammatical glitches, repetitions, and other things that would be
"flaws" on a printed page or in a formal oration. If you don't believe
me, look back for any extemporized performance that was judged to be
riveting by audiences in real time. (A campaign rally, a TV interview,
a debate, the closing argument in a trial.) If you then read a
word-by-word transcript, it will look like a mess.
The important point with Obama is that the content, command of fact and
concept, and overall intelligence of his extemporized answers matched
that of the scripted presentation. That could not have been so if he
were teleprompter-dependent. For example: by the end of his term,
George W. Bush had become quite effective in delivering a formal
speech. His interview- and press conference performance if anything
deteriorated through his time in office.
The whole "Obama can't talk on his own" concept is bizarre, given his
performance through two years of stump speeches and debates during the
campaign. But it seems to have gotten so much credence in the
right-wing world that it is worth addressing head on.
The whole "Obama can't talk on his own" concept is bizarre, given his performance through two years of stump speeches and debates during the campaign.
Agreed. It's more a symptom of the right's increasing isolation from reality than anything else.
Knocking a President he/she uses a teleprompter? That's what the GOP is gonna go with? Really?
Such an approach says more about how the GOP views voters' intelligence levels than it does about the authenticity of the President. Honestly, at what point will the GOP just come out and say it..."Vote for us because we think you're stupid."
"Honestly, at what point will the GOP just come out and say it...'Vote for us because we think you're stupid.'"
Probably about the time liberals admit "Obama is a socialist."
You're being sarcastic, right?
This whole nonsense is a measure of their increasing disconnect from reality. Remember this whole "meme" is not on the radar of any outside the blog crowd and dedicated followers of Fox News. I actually think the more Republicans/conservatives pursue lines of thought that are so at odds with reality that a five year old can see it the more it hurts them. It's all of a part with Limbaugh, birth certificates, Republican senators railing against earmarks when they have tens of millions of them or Obama is "doing too much." Basically silly. And everyone can see it. When I see a Beck talking about surrounding people, or a Bennett claiming Obama is running scared of Henry after the slapdown heard around the world, I wonder have these people have any idea of the harm they are doing to the Republican party. I think they've just got into a groove where it's easier to absorb the applause of the hard right than face the fact they have to change. Basically it's good news for Obama....whose going to trade in Obama/Biden for Boehner/Limbaugh/McConnell/Beck/Cantor/Kyl. To ask the question is to provide the answer.
The sad part of all this is you (not you specifically but you generally in regards to Obama supporters) keep empowering this argument by acknowledging it, even if you do so to refute it. Let them beat their drums to their spiteful, bitter choirs and let's move on to more important matters.
"...so much credence in the right-wing world that it is worth addressing head on."
After eight years of a president who sounded like a junior high school student sluring through badly written book reports, the right-wing should really just stay away from the subject of Obama's speeches all together.
No?
It's not just getting credence in the right-wing world. David Gregory's first comment last night after Obama concluded was something like, "After delivering his opening remarks, yes with a teleprompter, Obama answered 15 questions."
Pretty pathetic to see Gregory jumping on this, but frankly as an Obama supporter I'm glad that his opponents are having "success" with such a stupid meme. Obama's not John Kerry; he's not going to start acting differently out of self-conscious deference to whatever attack-your-opponents-strength bs is cooked up during any particular week.
So, he used a telemprompter for his opening remarks. Bush hacked through his opening remarks....from a paper script.
Is this really what the right wing is talking about?
Economic crisis vs. how the president reads prepared remarks.
No wonder they've been banished to the political wildnerness.
Also, today's LA Times featured a half page photo of the giant prompter from last night.
Gregory really had to make some strained connections to make sure he got that prompter mention in within his short bit. But he was happy to serve the meme it would appear.
The purpose of a teleprompter is to fool the viewer into thinking the speaker is more polished than he is. When Bush gave a speech he had a written speech in a binder which he opened up and paged through for all the world to see.
I guess there's a suspicion about Obama that he's being fed tips and information through the teleprompter in order for him to answer questions. You recall there was a flurry of suspicion in the left wing blogs that Bush had a receiver hidden under his jacket and was being fed answers by Karl Rove.
except for the fact that everyone realized that Karl Rove's answers would have been alot more intelligent..
I think many of you are missing the point...
When Obama is on teleprompter his speech is outstanding, polished, and careful.
When he goes off prompter we often get to see what appears to be the real Obama agenda that is NOT in those polished speeches.
Example-"Share the wealth" to Joe the Plumber
I don't know if you had some of the same thoughts I did, that maybe Rahm, Axelrod, Gibbs (god forbid) were feeding Obama answers with their ever present Blackberries during the press conference portion. Especially Axelrod and Gibbs were at them constantly.