From the American Spectator, "Teleprompting Obama" by the Prowler
Not that long ago, even friendlies in the media suggested that I was off-base in observing that Barack Obama is a dreadful extemporaneous speaker. Without a teleprompter guiding him, Obama is the total package of horrors - hesitant, verbally stumbling and stunningly gaffe prone. Even George W. Bush, hardly renowned for his silver tongue, does better. While the president on an off-day can give Obama a run for his money in the "ahs" and "ums" department, he seldom makes the kind of "above my pay grade" gaffe that has come to characterize Obama in winging-it mode.
Now it appears even the Obama campaign has gotten the message:
According to several Democrat political consultants presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama spent part of his Hawaiian vacation working on weaning himself from a heavy dependence on teleprompters. Even in what are staged as "town hall" events for Obama, remarks are scripted or formatted into bullet points that scroll on teleprompter screens. Obama has had several embarrassing events where the teleprompter either malfunctioned or the screens were not fully visible.
"He just locks down and can't get the words out," says one political consultant. "For such a fine speaker, it's really quite remarkable that he's had issues."
Obama's troubles with unscripted moments contributed to his campaign's refusal to participate in town hall format debates or discussions with Sen. John McCain, who feels much more comfortable in the unscripted moments.
I must take issue with the consultant who calls Obama "such a fine speaker." He's a brilliant teleprompter reader - I'll grant that much. But that's not really speaking, is it? It's rather a miniscule subset of speaking. And why exactly is it suddenly remarkable that Obama has had issues when speaking without a teleprompter? Throughout the campaign, he and his staff have worked overtime to limit his extemporaneous comments. If you get the chance to talk to his traveling press contingent, it will take only a beer or two to get them pissing and moaning about how much the campaign limits their access to The One.
In other words, this is hardly a new problem.
