BFFs? (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
I had to have someone explain the joke to me. A Republican former classmate of mine had posted a link on his Facebook page to a humorous blog purported to be written by President Obama's teleprompter, in which the anthroposcribic (yes, I just made that word up) device talks about his fun adventures with the Big Guy. Very cute.
But of course, it's assumes the reader already thinks it's funny how often Obama uses a teleprompter. I've heard plenty of Republicans knock the president for his alleged over-reliance on the device, but it always seemed to me to be mainly a lame way to bring a really great orator down a few notches. "Oh yeah? Bet he couldn't deliver that speech without a teleprompter! HA!" Good one.
If it was genuinely funny for some reason, though, I just didn't get it. But I wanted to! I know, I'm the "Liberal Examiner" and all that, but I really do prefer to find the funny and ridiculous in all politicians, even those with whom I agree most of the time (and I have not held back from expressing my concerns about the president here either). If there was a good, quality comic meme to be had here, I wanted in on it.
My GOP Facebook friend simply told me that Obama obviously performs worse without the teleprompter than with, and compared that to our previous president who was an unmitigated oratorical disaster no matter what was in front of him. But I wondered; does Obama's reliance reach truly comic levels, comparable to W's?
I worked in media research during a chunk of the presidential primaries last year, and I watched a lot -- a lot -- of then-Senator Obama. Indeed, it was certainly clear that there was one venue in which his main competition, then-Senator Clinton, was leaving him in the public speaking dust: the debates. And at debates, you don't get a teleprompter (though most questions were so laughably predictable as to render the need for them moot). Obama was often halting and awkward in his responses, and to this day he tends to preface far too many non-cued answers to questions with, "Now, what I have said is this . . ." -- as though every sentence was a footnote to a sentence he had uttered at some time in the past, which itself was probably also prefaced the same way.
But have mercy, he wasn't embarrassing himself. I know George W. Bush is a low watermark, but Obama has (I don't think) ever come close to sounding as breathtakingly stupid as Bush.
Looking back at a Politico piece from last week by Carol E. Lee (that I had intentionally avoided precisely because I thought the teleprompter topic was a waste of pixel space), it seems clear from the reporting that Obama uses it a great deal more than previous commanders-in-chief. I suppose that's potential joke fodder, but it has yet to strike me as blatant enough to be universally guffaw-worthy. Indeed, the Politico piece seems more upset about how the teleprompter makes it difficult to get better pictures at events. So if he uses the teleprompter, it's an artificially theatrical construction, which hinders the press's enjoyment of a different artificially theatrical construction. Seems like a fair trade to me.
And this whole topic dawned on me mere hours after the president had completed his town hall appearance in California last night. I saw the vast majority of it, and without a prompter, cue card, or notes on a napkin, I think he did a hell of a job tackling some pretty difficult material. He didn't seem to need a "crutch" -- as the Lee called it twice in her article -- that night.
But let there be no doubt: the idea of Obama's teleprompter writing its own blog, a la Fake Steve Jobs, is a really funny idea, whether Obama overuses it or not. And you have the love the newly-minted acronym for it: TOTUS.
Of course, in the end, I'm more concerned about what is coming out of his mouth than how it gets into his brain. If he needs his speeches written in braille, delivered by semaphore 100 yards back, or needs Joe Biden to whisper the lines into his ear, I'd still rather have something like his Philadelphia speech on race than not. If he needs a teleprompter to make things like that happen, prompt away, TOTUS. Hail to the idiot board.
Comments
Ha ha, this IS hilarious. Righties think Obama is some kind of robot with an alien chip in his head.
The telemprompter is how he gets fed his missions, right?? Joking...
Paul Fidalgo quotes a friend as saying, in part, "...Obama obviously performs worse without the teleprompter than with...."
Your friend is quite correct. Without a scripted speech, Obama comes across as a lawyer from the law firm of, "Stammer, Stutter and Stall".
In lieu of a controlled environment and rehearsal, Obama falls to pieces. Sure, he does better than Dubya on a word-for-word comparison. Bush screws up every word. Obama screws up on a paragraph level; Obama cannot maintain context nor theme. Obama cannot free form speak in a clear, cohesive and coherent way.
Have you noticed how often Obama uses "and" in dialog? Obama is the King of Run-on Sentences, when not the King of But-uh.
Paul Fidalgo adds, "...California last night...he did a hell of a job tackling some pretty difficult material."
Not so. Obama fell back upon old worn out talking points. He might as well be the famous Norwegian Blue Parrot; dead, nothing new, just pretty to look at.
Did you watch him take off his suit jacket? Oh, brother, now he is of the working class. I am sure Obama left California with callouses on his hands and farm dirt under his manicured fingernails. You do know Obama has his fingernails manicured, yes? Reminds me of John Edwards and his expensive beauty salon visits, before visiting his mistress and baby.
One question, specifically, caught my attention.
A girl asks Obama about cost of living in California. Her question was rambling and incoherent but understandable. She wants to know what Obama will do to help Californians who are suffering the most massive tax increase in our national history and suffering one of the highest unemployment rates.
Obama never addressed her question, never answered her question. No, Obama tripped off on a wild tangent, took to talking about pots, pans, price of tea, sealing wax, Dr. Suess and and Puff the Magic Dragon. Obama prattled on for about six minutes about a lot of nothing. His reply to her was less coherent than a George Bush literary snafu. Obama had all of his words correct, but he did not make a cow lick of sense.
However, at closing, Obama skinned himself alive. To end his meandering nonsensical response to her question, he inadvertently endorsed the most massive tax increase of our American history and endorsed raising taxes more; "...everyone must chip in."
Not only did Obama forget the original question, he also forgot where he was and forgot to whom he was speaking.
Obama was addressing Californians who have lost their jobs, lost their homes, are living, quite literally, on the streets and their children on going hungry. Obama tells those hurting Californian families, "Raising your taxes is good. You must pay higher taxes."
Here in California, I am noting tens of thousands of Californians are already up in arms about Obama endorsing higher taxes. People are enraged.
Do you suppose Obama intended to offend people, to anger people? I doubt this. Nonetheless, he did.
Without a TelePrompTer, Obama does not have clue what to say nor has a clue about what he is saying. Obama is just winging it, like a dead Norwegian Blue Parrot.
My credentials are I am an English professor. I know language. I am quite accustomed to giving speeches not just before a class, but also before civic meetings, regents meetings, city council, shareholder meetings at a bank, on and on. I speak before hundreds, and I enjoy more question and answer sessions in a month than Obama will enjoy during the entire term of his presidency.
I never use notes, never use a written speech and certainly never use a TelePromTer. I know my message and deliver with style and flair.
I add this personal information to qualify there are those of us who are experts in language and experts at language usage. My expert observation is Obama is a rambling airhead who is about as talented at speaking as a dead Norwegian Blue Parrot.
Obama is not as comical, though.
Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation
Just imagine for a second if
1. Sarah Palin used a teleprompter to talk about a childhood trip (Obambi did)
2. Bush had the screw up with the Irish PM
You liberals would be talking about it for weeks, months, years. But your Messiah does it and it's meh no biggie.
Gotta love the inconsistency, it's what makes libs so consistent.
Special Olympics.
I watched Jay Leno last night. I did not watch to take in Obama, I simply love Jay Leno; the man is comic genius. Did you folks know when Leno was a young man he was homeless and living on the streets? Yep, Leno was often picked up by the police for vagrancy. Smart boy, he told jokes to cops until they decided to give him a break and let him go.
Special Olympics.
You folks catch Obama's comment about Special Olympics on Jay Leno last night? If unaware of this, you are not paying attention and are not qualified to comment about the Messiah.
Oh boy, that fat dopehead Limbaugh will go on about this for weeks on end. Limbaugh is regular contestant on Wheel Of Hypocrisy.
Special Olympics. I have no problem with Obama's comment. The Messiah certainly screwed-up and further evidences he is a lousy public speaker. Nonetheless, I understand Obama's intent, I understand what he meant. Obama intended no harm. Obama simply came across as an average person. This is OK.
Wait, I thought Obama was the Black Messiah, a perfect man who walks on water and never wrongs. Perhaps this is Obama is an average person and Americans so stupid to think him to be minor deity.
Special Olympics. No doubt Obama will hold Special Olympics at the White House, will invite special kids to come have lunch with him, "See? I like those kids," as he closes the barn door a day late.
I have no problem with Obama's slip of the tongue. I have problems with Obama subsequently engaging in hypocrisy to cover for his slip of the tongue.
I know what is Obama's problem. Obama is a megalomaniac so obsessed with his public image he cannot focus on his thinking nor his words. Obama's mind is not in charge, Obama's ego is in charge.
Jay Leno does not care what people think well evidenced by Jay ragging on fat people, nightly. I like this. I rag on fat people constantly. Jay's mind is in control. Jay has mastered his ego. Jay Leno is a comic genius, Jay oozes self-confidence.
Obama oozes timidity and personal insecurity.
Then there is Botox Pelosi who recently pronounced almost all Americans, "un-American".
Mexicans love her, though. Viva La Raza!
Okpulot Taha
Choctaw Nation
Hail to the TOTUS! The TOTUS! The TOTUS!!!!
I recall candidate Obama did indeed say some breath-takingly stupid things on the campaign trail. A comment that he had visited more than 50 states and had to campaign in yet more comes to mind. I believe the number was 57. He also stumbled very badly when talking about the inhaler used by asthma sufferers, started to call it a breathalyzer, and ended up with inhalater, never quite getting it right.
President Obama has DONE some breath-takingly stupid things, when trying to play host to the British PM, and then writing a letter about how he looks forward to working for the next four years with the FORMER President of France.
President Bush may have had a shaky command of the English language, but at least he know who his counterparts in allied countries were, and how to properly play host (or at the very least, he listened to people who knew).
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