It can't be denied anymore. Barack Obama is the "teleprompter President." While we on the left have marveled at Obama's oratorical skills since he burst on the scene at the 2004 Democratic Convention, those on the right have long derided him, saying that without the teleprompter, he's an empty suit.
And while it's a criticism that may have begun from the far right, now even the traditional media has realized that there's a story here.
Sure, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs may try to laugh it off:
MR. GIBBS: I am absolutely amazed that anybody in America cares about who the President picks at a news conference or the mechanism by which he reads his prepared remarks. You know, I guess America is a wonderful country.
MS. ROMANO: You're saying this is all Washington Beltway stuff?
MR. GIBBS: I don't even know if it's that. I don't think I should implicate the many people that live in Washington.
... but others, less biased than Gibbs, see it differently and have objected to the traditional media either ignoring the story, or worse, praising him for mastering the device:
- President Obama has mastered the teleprompter in spades, so much so that when he is delivering a 12-page speech he gives the impression it is off the cuff.
- The Teleprompter is Barack Obama's star medium.
- In delivering his first televised address from the Oval Office Thursday night, Obama was smooth and polished in his delivery as he read from a teleprompter with the ease of a pro.
- Reading his speech from a TelePrompTer, Obama was magnificent, showing again his wondrous way with TV.
But now, with the constant drumbeat of criticism from the right, the traditional media is paying attention and has stopped ignoring the obvious:
- I think Obama's mistake was, the smooth, suave Obama, who is totally in command when he is reading from a teleprompter, suddenly was there without a speech writer and he babbled and bumbled ...
- In fact, at one point, Obama, the political master of the teleprompter, stumbled quite badly and uncharacteristically, creating an expectant hush, a collective holding of breath ...
- Although Mr. Obama's speech was one of his most urgent appeals for support ... he delivered it in a quiet, sometimes halting fashion, apparently because of a malfunctioning teleprompter.
As painful as it may be to admit, it can't be denied that having a president who relies so heavily on an electronic crutch is an issue. Consider the safeguards taken before he delivered his acceptance speech at the convention:
To guard against any mechanical snafus, Obama had several backups for the text. The principal system is a teleprompter that flashes the text on a screen ... The Obama campaign also had a backup teleprompter ... and a third ... text, on 5-by-8-inch sheets, was to be on the podium for Obama.
We cannot ignore this any longer. If, God forbid, Barack Obama someday has to stand on a pile of rubble and inspire the country, there isn't going to be a teleprompter waiting for him.
Of course the most important thing to realize is that every one of the quotes used here were actually written about the "Great Communicator," Ronald Reagan.
For months the right has engaged in the classic Rovian technique of finding your opponent's strength, and attacking it, and in recent weeks, with the President taking the case for his agenda straight to the American people, the pace of those attacks have stepped up exponentially, to the point where we're hearing this on a national radio broadcast:
So I mean, it really bothers me, this teleprompter. ... It bothers me that this man doesn’t — this man is always on prompter. You want to talk about a Manchurian candidate — that’s it! Who’s writing every word for this man? [...]
Is it bothering anyone else but me? We have a fraud in office, at least that’s the way it feels to me.
And what's worse? This is what the traditional, so called respectable media is taking its cues from.
But if they really want to run with this story, perhaps the media should be looking at it from another angle; instead of pretending that a politician using a teleprompter is some sort of breaking news, why don't they ask Glenn Beck if Ronald Reagan was a Manchurian candidate too. Ask Sean Hannity if Reagan's use of the teleprompter proves that he was "just another political consultant creation.” Or ask Rush Limbaugh, who has an ongoing bit about Obama's teleprompter telling him what to say:
I think the teleprompter is starting to have a little fun with President Obama. The teleprompter learned that it can put anything up there, and he will read it.
... if he can work up a new routine about the time Reagan:
... apparently misreading his text on his teleprompter, said: "win just one for the Gippet."
Or better yet, the media could just cover the news.