Proving That He’s From Planet Chicago
By Mitch Berg
Roger Ebert tweeted:
@ebertchicago: How did this Obama/Telepromoter meme get started? Have many Presidents been in less need of one?
I’ll leave the responses to you, gentle reader. It’s a rare open thread.
February 26th, 2010 at 10:54 am
Bush for one, if he used it half as much as O does you know the media would have been all over that shit.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:23 am
I um, ah…ah..er..um
February 26th, 2010 at 11:25 am
Ebert misses the point, of course. It’s not whether or not Obama needs a teleprompter. It’s that it is his constant companion. It’s a crutch for him. He doesn’t need to bring it with him when he speaks to grade school classes, but he does.
Part of the sales pitch for candidate Obama was that he isn’t an inarticulate dolt like his predecessor, but the problem is that because he was sold that way, he feels like he needs to be scripted. He can’t risk a “My Pet Goat” moment, because it punctures the narrative.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:29 am
Given his lack of real-world qualifications the media pushed the idea that Obama had wonderful skills as a speaker. If you want references, read the MSM reviews of his electioneering speeches, esp. his throw-Wright-under-the-bus speech. He certainly seems to have mesmerized his supporters in the media with that bit of misdirection and obfustication.
In reality Obama is a careful speaker when he considers something in his area of expertise, as you would expect of any lawyer.
The last prez who was once a law prof, Bill Clinton, relied on this lawyerly diction as well. Clinton was better at communicating, I think, because there was more to him than there is to Obama. A kind of feistiness that had its roots in his fat-kid-from-a-trailer-park background. He could reach back to that and sound like a regular person when he needed to.
When Obama speaks off the cuff there is no trace of Hawaii, or of his life in Indonesia or CA or NY. It’s all Columbia, Harvard, and UCLS. I’ve always taken it as a given that he attended Wright’s church to hone his political cred and learn how to speak to a certain type of demographic. That demographic can’t help him now, so he falls back on his law-prof speaking style.
This seems to impress the rubes — I mean the journalists — who, after all, are a species of eternal undergrads themselves.
February 26th, 2010 at 11:30 am
< spinal tap > None. None more presidents. < /spinal tap >
February 26th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
How many Presidents were in less need of a teleprompter? Well, given that it was invented in the 1950s, definitely every President before Kennedy. Never mind that Reagan wrote a lot of his own speeches, and was known for stunning the world with off the cuff remarks.
Personally, I can’t think of ANY President who does worse thinking on his feet than Obama, and sad to say, that’s a requirement for the job. Maybe Congress needs to ban the teleprompter in campaign speeches for this reason?
February 26th, 2010 at 1:07 pm
Um Bubba, that would be a violation of the First Amendment. Obama was near perfect at the Health Care Summit. He projected arrogance and civility like a pro, all without his teleprompter.
February 26th, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Open thread?
Why aren’t pro-basketball cheerleaders topless?
February 26th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Why aren’t pro-basketball cheerleaders topless?
*Reading from teleprompter* Because, er, um, let me be clear, ahhh, because double-dribbling is a violation, clearly.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Say, Mitch, since you’re from South Dakota, can you tell me if you think climate change is caused by thermological (sic) causes or astrological ones?
February 26th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Open thread? (2.0)
Why aren’t women Olympic hockey players topless?
February 26th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Seflores, that would be unfair to the straight player on the team.
February 26th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Ahem:
since you’re from South Dakota
Ptui. North Dakota.
I think climate change is mostly politicologicalistical.
February 26th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
South Dakota keeps NoDak from collapsing into Nebraska. I heard Warren Buffet owns it.
February 26th, 2010 at 5:59 pm
along with Obama, or is that Soros? I get confusded sometimes by the angry liberal billionares out there. If they hate themselves so much why don’t they just take a vow of poverty and go on food stamps?
February 26th, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Wow. Sorry for the mistaken upgrade, Mitch. 😉
February 27th, 2010 at 11:34 am
[I]Seflores, that would be unfair to the straight player on the team.[/I]
DiscordianStooj, you take that back you lousy git. This is women’s hockey, not soccer or softball.