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Obama Stumbles at Coakley Event

Broken teleprompter?

7:19 PM, Jan 17, 2010 • By JOHN MCCORMACK
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Byron York sums up Obama's lackluster performance at today's rally:

Obama's speech was halting, wandering, and humorless; the president looked as if he didn’t want to be there. There's no doubt the crowd was excited to see Obama, but he seemed so hesitant and out-of-rhythm at the top that it appeared he might have been having teleprompter trouble

It did seem like Obama had teleprompter trouble at the 2:45 mark of this video when he appears to draw a blank on what state he was in: "I want to thank the great senior senator from ... this ... (laughs) ... I know where we are--Massachusetts--the great commonwealth of Massachusetts."

Then later around the 16:30 mark, Obama discusses the stimulus package and accidentally says, "Martha's opponent would have voted against those taxes." (YouTube here.) He immediately realizes he meant to say that the $700 billion stimulus bill is a tax cut rather than a tax hike (he was closer to the truth the first time) and adds: "he would have voted against those tax cuts--would have voted against those tax cuts."

These are not big gaffes by any means, but for a politician known for a silver tongue, Obama certainly seemed off his game.

More by John McCormack

Article TAGS:

Barack Obama, Massachusetts Senate, Scott Brown, stimulus, Taxes

 

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