Roman Around

Just imagine how busy the sketch writers at Saturday Night Live would be had a story been published about President George W. Bush and his army of traveling teleprompters. The mind boggles trying to comprehend how much would be made on the late-night talk show circuit of Bush needing to have his electronic cue cards at almost every public venue that required him to speak. From Jon Stewart to Bill Maher – and all stops in between – America would never hear the end of it.

However, if one were to take the name George W. Bush and replace it with Barack H. Obama, the question is whether America would ever hear the beginning of it. (Insert your educated guess here).

While there is no correlation between one’s competence as an orator and one’s ability to speak publicly without a script or without prompting, the idea that a man who is touted for being such a dynamic speaker can only be so when he has something to read from is, to say the least, worth noting, don’t you think?

Carol E. Lee from The Politico writes:

President Barack Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his TelePrompter.

The textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he speaks.

Resting on top of a tall, narrow pole, they flank his podium during speeches in the White House’s stately parlors. They stood next to him on the floor of a manufacturing plant in Indiana as he pitched his economic stimulus plan. They traveled to the Department of Transportation this week and were in the Capitol Rotunda last month when he paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln in six-minute prepared remarks.

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual — not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

Those who have remarked (conservative commentators almost exclusively) that president Obama often times seems to be searching for words when he is off-script have been ridiculed and accused of seeking retaliation for all of the attacks on the less-than-dynamic speaking skills of George W. Bush.

However, what is becoming clear is that President Obama, while often dynamite with a script, isn’t particular good “out of the box” – like, say, Kennedy, Reagan and Clinton were.

After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no such luck.

His use of the teleprompter makes work tricky for the television crews and photographers trying to capture an image of the president announcing a new Cabinet secretary or housing plan without a pane of glass blocking his face. And it is a startling sight to see such sleek, modern technology set against the mahogany doors and Bohemian crystal chandeliers in the East Room or the marble columns of the Grand Foyer.

…

Obama has relied on a teleprompter through even the shortest announcements and when repeating the same lines on his economic stimulus plan that he’s been saying for months — whereas past presidents have mostly worked off of notes on the podium except during major speeches, such as the State of the Union.

Interesting to point out is the contrast between President Obama and former President Bush.

By most accounts – from both sides of the aisle, mind you – President Bush spoke wonderfully off-script and off-camera. When he was unrehearsed, speaking from the heart, discussing matters he was not only passionate about but well-read on, he was a more-than-competent speaker. However, when he spoke from teleprompters or was rigidly scripted, he wasn’t quite as good.

The opposite seems to hold true for President Obama. When following the teleprompter, he is very good – some would say great. When he is left to fend for himself, however, he often seems to be thumbing through his mental rolodex trying to find the right number.

The point?

The cocooning of President Obama continues from all prcatically all sectors of the mainstream media.  This story would have been an Anderson Cooper three-part expose by now had this been a Republican needing to suckle at the teet of technology in order to communicate.

In other news, a new college drinking game could be on the horizon – fashioned after the old “Hi Bob” contest, in which people would watch the old Bob Newhart Show and down a shot everytime one of the characters said “Hi Bob.”

This new excursion into campus idiocy might be called the “Uh-bama” drinking game.

The premise is simple.

Record an Obama event that is not a fully scripted speech (if you can find one), and have the particpants in the game take a shot everytime the President says “uh.”

The game would be over in about seven minutes.

The net effect?

More hangovers means less leftist indoctrination at our universities.

-