Why Does Obama's Teleprompter Hate America?

Without a doubt, many of the attacks from the far-right against President Obama have amounted to nothing more than the political equivalent of speaking in tongues. The attacks are only marginally more coherent than Steve Carell's Brick Tamland character from Anchorman shouting "LOUD NOISES!" for the sake of shouting something. Anything.

The most ridiculous of the loud noises are the ones that entirely ignore the legacy of the previous president. Specifically, the very same people making the loudest noises about President Obama have also spent the last eight years spastically applauding President Bush's worst trespasses every step of the way. The far-right's staggering disregard for the significant flaws of the former Republican president confounds logic when measured against their ridiculous attacks on the current president.

ATTACK: President Obama took a vacation to Hawaii.
REALITY: President Bush set a record for presidential vacations during two wars and a major hurricane.

ATTACK: President Obama's budget could double the national debt.
REALITY: President Bush's spending actually did.

ATTACK: President Obama is "shredding the Constitution."
REALITY: You mean there's a Constitution left to be shredded?

ATTACK: President Obama chuckled while talking about bailing out the auto industry.
REALITY: President Bush routinely smirked and grinned while talking about the significantly more serious issues of war and military casualties.

ATTACK: President Obama is incompetent.
REALITY: Do I even need to do the list?

ATTACK: President Obama is presiding over a one-party fascist government.
REALITY: This is not a joke.

So. Loud noises!

This is sort of like a fan of the Jonas Brothers accusing Death Cab for Cutie of selling out. Devoid of logic or basic consistency, these attacks are reduced to being nothing more than angry shouting. Speaking in tongues. All told, there isn't a single Bush flaw that hasn't been hamhandedly projected onto President Obama, and we're not even three months into the Obama presidency.

But wait. There's more.

As has been the case for too many years, more than a few of these crazy bombs have made the too-short journey from the far-right's psychotic pit of despair and into the establishment press. But in the case of the newest round of loud noises, the opposite is actually true.

ATTACK: President Obama uses a teleprompter when delivering prepared remarks. This clearly means he's a moron and intellectually incurious and incompetent and hopelessly doofish. Impeach! Impeach!

This one appears to have started with a February item by Dean Barnett in the self-satirical Weekly Standard in which he wrote that President Obama is unable to deliver prepared remarks without a teleprompter. You mean the president doesn't memorize his speeches like other modern presidents? And by "other modern presidents," I mean zero other modern presidents. Shocking.

Then, earlier this month, Carol Lee wrote a piece for the Politico. Her angle was, in essence, that President Obama's New Fangled Word Squares from Outer Space sometimes make it difficult for photographers and videographers to get a clean view of the president. Poor, poor news media. Why does President Obama's teleprompter hate America?

In the past couple of weeks, the teleprompter attack has gone full-blown viral among far-right tea baggers and bloggers (who, by the way, still haven't "gone Galt" as promised). Michelle Malkin, for example, posted a series of terrifically unfunny photoshopped images of the president and his teleprompters. Drudge ballyhooed a hilarious blog written by -- get this -- the president's teleprompter. And random members of broader wingnuttia have taken to calling the president "TOTUS" (Teleprompter of the United States).

So funny! I tell you what, here's more fuel for the far-right bloggers. A gift from me to them. President Obama, it turns out, needs a pen -- a PEN! -- in order to write words on paper and to sign his name. Zing! Pow! Time to work up some awesome Obama's Pen photoshops. In Pen We Trust! Barack HusseINK Obama! Sharpie of the United States -- or "SOTUS."

But okay, I get it. The claim from the far-right is that, without his teleprompter, President Obama is a dumb stupid. Yes, far-right Bush dead-enders are equating verbal performance with intelligence.

Say what you will about his politics, but no one with any degree of honesty can claim with a straight face that President Obama isn't one of the smartest presidents of the last 50-plus years. The president's impromptu speaking style, which the far-right misperceives as somehow "stupid," is actually the president being thoughtful and prudent. And yes, he occasionally stammers and uses common verbal tics, but does that mean he's "stupid?" Or disconnected? The same faction of people who proudly champion anti-intellectualism as a virtue are currently accusing a very smart man of being an idiot. Let me know if you can figure that one out. While you're at it, what the hell is a "peeance freeance secure Iraq?"

The teleprompter attacks have become so inexplicably widespread that, Monday night, David Letterman aired a bit called "Teleprompter vs. No Teleprompter" about how stupid the whole teleprompter thing has become. Leading into a video comparing a clip of President Obama using a teleprompter and George W. Bush stammering without one, Letterman basically said (paraphrasing): "This is seriously all they've got?"

Little did Letterman know that on Tuesday night the Great War on Teleprompters would reach new levels of hackery. Immediately following the end of the president's prime time press conference, David Gregory on NBC and Brett Baier on FOX News Channel reported that the president used a teleprompter for his customary prepared statement at the top of the event. As if that was somehow unusual. Baier, by the way, read his remarks from a teleprompter.

Meanwhile, the AP's Washington Bureau Chief and Karl Rove Enabler, Ron Fournier, described the teleprompter as a "crutch." Fact: all presidents read a prepared statement at the outset of their press conferences. More on that presently. The whole Fournier item is one long, shameless, desperate grab for far-right blog links. (Quick aside: in the comments under the Breitbart posting of Fournier's article, a far-right commenter wrote: "Grab some John Galt gear from [Café Press store link] and join us at your local Tea Party this April 15th." Yeah do that, because nothing says "deliberately not earning money and withdrawing from society in order to bring down the economy" quite like promoting and selling John Galt swag. Consistent!)

A "crutch," is what Fournier called it. This implies that using a teleprompter is somehow easier than reading from printed pages. That's definitely not always the case. Just ask John McCain. If you've ever tried to read a speech or some dialogue from a teleprompter, it just rolls along -- sometimes too quickly, other times too slowly. If it's manually operated, you have to rely on the judgment of the operator and hope they're paying attention. It's really quite unnerving unless you've really mastered it. But if you have, why go back to reading from pages? There's no point. It's like learning to pilot a jet, but then only ever traveling bareback on a donkey.

In politics and the media, teleprompters are about as commonplace as microphones and people named "O'Donnell." Some use a teleprompter, some use paper, some use cue cards, some use both. Really, what difference does it make whether prepared remarks are read from paper or Perspex? Either way, we're talking about prepared text printed on a readable medium. The teleprompter isn't some space-age interdimensional portal that automatically injects your audience with nitrous oxide and mild doses of heroin, drugging them into an involuntary state of euphoric torpor. It simply allows the reader to deliver a speech without looking down at the podium. That's all.

Once again, there's no other way to describe this attack other than to call it "loud noises!" amounting to schizoid, nonsensical garble. Just like any Glenn Beck show, in fact -- maudlin platitudes that, if shouted loudly enough, sound very serious.

So ultimately if the intention is to turn "teleprompter" into a bad word, then good luck running Sarah Palin in 2012. Sarah Palin -- whose one bright shining moment came complete with a teleprompter, and whose most damning moments came without one.

BobCesca.com

Comments

[luziannagirl]

1) Anyone who's actually read Ayn Rand's _Atlas Shrugged_knows "going Galt" means the truly productive [Captains of Industry] take their assets and go sit on top of a remote mountain and do their own thing without any interference from the lowly masses. And since we now know most of their assets are actually OURS, "going Galt" would mean the fat cats head into the sunset empty-handed. Awww.

2) Reading a teleprompter at least means President Obama can read. I always wondered how Bush's speech writers managed to fit so many pictures onto that little screen.

3) Sometimes I think the most effective way to deal with the Orwellian Right ---because after all, their leaders know what they are doing----is to just tell them to sit down and shut up. Most Americans probably wonder why the "other side" is treating them with such respect---respect they are not due.

So, here it is:

Sit down and shut up, Right-wingers! You've lost your last shred of cred!

[fltnsplr]

Mr. Cesca, I couldn't agree more with what you say. However, I am going to take exception to the incorrect use of hyphens these days.

The construction "far-right" should be used as an adjective, not a noun. Therefore, if you are speaking of "far-right idiots", that would be appropriate. If, on the other hand, you are talking about "the idiots on the far right", then the hyphen would not be needed. :-)

[somefool]

I apologize, but am I the only one that gets a great deal of sophomoric glee out of the fact that Conservatives are so into tea bagging?

[fltnsplr]

NOOOOOO, you're not!!!

[twiggy2]

" without a doubt many of the attacks from the far-right against President Obama have amounted to nothing more than the political equilvalent of speaking in tongues "
i am a tongue speaker- as in the Holy Spirt of the one true and living God resides in me, my personal prayer language directly to the creator of heaven and earth is a source of renewed strength in my everyday life. speaking in this heavenly language equips, guide, strenghten­s,sustains me in all of my endeavors. i find it ironic that people who know nothing of the Spirit of God so eagerly repudiate it.
thanks to my prayer language i have a sense of hope, peace and joy in and through whatever storms i am faced with.
don't mock or scoff at the benefits of living a clean, wholesome, lifestyle that enables believers to live above the fray!
i am a sinner saved by grace, filled with the Spirit of the true and living God with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.

[Lurlene]

What other tongues?

[realityrules]

The most eloquent president we have had since, well, any of the last Democratic presidents. Any republicans still living in the real world must be cringing with emabarrassment.

[BubbieSue]

Have a heart, people. Nobody with any sense tries to make a definite, sensible statement without some sort of notes. Been there, done that. Who knows if he even sticks to them precisely.

Teleprompters are just the latest gizmo, and they permit the speaker to make the best possible eye contact with the audience--which Obama does exceeding well. When he's replying to questions the college professor takes over, and being related to one and knowing several I know how it works. Very well. Obama does it exceptionally well as he makes every effort to connect with his audience.

Let the naysayers do or say what they will. We progressives just need to speak louder and more often, and remind our public officials what we elected them to do.

[harpen1]

What I find disturbing is when these arguments are thrown out there people latch on to them as original ideas. They start to mimic what is being repeated over and over on T.V., without any thought. It's so scary that the mind set of so many is being controlled by what they hear. It's as if they are empty vessels devoid of thought until someone comes along and plants an idea in their head.

[dennissinned]

Just further proof that the GOP has no ideas. What's more amusing is the passion with which they throw these silly, ridiculous accusations. Hello, the country's in turmoil! But Obama will always be smarter than Dubya.

[claster]

HuffPost's Pick

I am a professional teleprompter operator. I've worked in that capacity for over 20 years, on most of the biggest TV shows here in Los Angeles. Most of what you wrote was very well put, but you got a few key details wrong.

Unless it's a very low-budget operation, it NEVER "just rolls along." It's always "manually operated." There's a highly-trained person on the other end of it, who has usually taken a lot of time to format the words so that they are easy to read (keeping phrases and names together on a line, inserting spaces where pauses come, etc.), and who is listening very intently to match the speed of the reader. But the reader always sets the speed, never the teleprompter operator. Someone who uses prompter a lot would probably have a regular prompter with whom he has a relationship. I was Dennis Miller's prompter for a number of years, for instance. I got to where I knew exactly where his eyes were, and knew his cadence perfectly. It would be very, very surprising if the President of the United States didn't have a regular prompter person, who probably has a lot of years of experience. Believe it or not, it takes years to get really good at this job. But I'd be quite amazed if the President spends any time worrying about whether or not his prompter operator is "paying attention." Paying attention is the main thing we do.

[raresilk]

i call upon every single media character who has criticized president obama for using a teleprompter to do his or her telecast without a teleprompter, from here on forward. or shut up, hypocrite.

[Shake-A-Spear]

Nicely done, but I could do with fewer of those pop-culture references.

Anyway we finally have a smart, cool, highly intelligent president whose effect on the Repugs is to make them sputter in frustration. It's about friggin time after 8 years when stupidity ruled the land

[zeitgeist79]

Hilarious post! I have been very befuddled by the logic of this argument from the right-wingers, but I guess it is just another attempt to find something, anything to criticize the President for. They see that no matter what has happened in the last several months that his popularity has not waned and they are desperate to knock him down a peg.

The incredible cynicism of the Republican party is always impressive. They are actually hoping that people are dumb enough to care about how President Obama delivers his message as opposed to what the message is. As if there isn't enough stuff to care about.

[forebode]

Yes, the Repugs exploit the ignorant because they have nothing better to do and they are trying to make this an issue because they are p'od that Obama won the election fair and square. They refuse to get over it. The Repugs are trying to find an issue to defame Obama on, but can't do it without looking like they hypocrites they are. What a bunch of loser fascist scumbags the Repugs are. I love to laugh in their face and tell them to get over it whenever I hear someone complain about Obama winning instead of McCain.

[DonL]

It's just more smoke and mirrors because if we are arguing about teleprompters then we are not discussing the economy, Iraq, torture, the state that the previous administration left the country in. The right-wing media is brilliant--they manage to turn the conversation to their own ends, accuse the left of doing what the right IS doing, ignore any amount truth, and in general act as if the country is so stupid they could get away with it.

Oh, right. They did.

[qotl]

nice work - have watched anchorman again because of this - do you think bush ever actually killed someone with a trident?

[billwetzel]

hahaha That's good.

[beanchihuahua]

So exactly what do these pundits use to shove their BS down our throats..OH THAT'S RIGHT..a teleprompter. Bill O'Reilly's hissy fit over what the teleprompter said when he was on Inside Edition comes to mind when I think of everyone, WHO READS A TELEPROMPTER FOR A LIVING, and their hypocrisy.