The TelePrompter: Obama's safety net
THE textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he speaks. <br>
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 parlours.
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.
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.
His use of the teleprompter makes work tricky for the television crews and photographers trying to capture an image of the president without a pane of glass blocking his face.
“It’s just something presidents have not done,†said Martha Joynt Kumar, a presidential historian who has held court in the White House since December 1975. “It’s jarring to the eye.
In a way, it stands in the middle between the audience and the president because his eye is on the teleprompter.â€
The president’s teleprompter also elicited some uncomfortable laughter after he announced Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his choice for Health and Human Services secretary.
“Kathy,†Obama said, turning the podium over to Sebelius, who waited at the microphone for an awkward few seconds while the teleprompters were lowered to the floor and the television cameras rolled.
Obama has relied on a teleprompter through even the shortest announcements and when repeating the same lines on his economic stimulus plan that he has 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.
Ari Fleischer, a former spokesman for George W. Bush, said while it’s entirely a matter of personal style, using a teleprompter at these smaller events has its drawbacks.
“It removes you from the audience in the room,†Fleischer said. “Bush,†Fleischer added, “would use the teleprompter for his major big events, but when he would travel around the country or do events, he would almost always work off of large index cards.â€
“Whether one uses note cards or a teleprompter, the American people are a lot more concerned about the plans relayed than the method of delivery. This is not always true of the media,†said Bill Burton, the deputy press secretary.
In a break from his routine, Obama did not use a teleprompter during his pre-inauguration speech at a factory in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and his delivery seemed to suffer.
He paused too long at parts. He accentuated the wrong words. But be it extra precaution, style or a mental crutch, Obama has shown in the past that he needs the teleprompter.
Before Obama entered a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday to announce his crackdown on defence contracts, a CNN reporter asked an Obama aide if the teleprompter could be moved further away from the podium or lowered. The answer was an unequivocal ‘no.’
Online source
Resting on top of a tall, narrow pole, they flank his podium during speeches in the White House’s stately parlours.
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.
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.
His use of the teleprompter makes work tricky for the television crews and photographers trying to capture an image of the president without a pane of glass blocking his face.
“It’s just something presidents have not done,†said Martha Joynt Kumar, a presidential historian who has held court in the White House since December 1975. “It’s jarring to the eye.
In a way, it stands in the middle between the audience and the president because his eye is on the teleprompter.â€
The president’s teleprompter also elicited some uncomfortable laughter after he announced Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his choice for Health and Human Services secretary.
“Kathy,†Obama said, turning the podium over to Sebelius, who waited at the microphone for an awkward few seconds while the teleprompters were lowered to the floor and the television cameras rolled.
Obama has relied on a teleprompter through even the shortest announcements and when repeating the same lines on his economic stimulus plan that he has 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.
Ari Fleischer, a former spokesman for George W. Bush, said while it’s entirely a matter of personal style, using a teleprompter at these smaller events has its drawbacks.
“It removes you from the audience in the room,†Fleischer said. “Bush,†Fleischer added, “would use the teleprompter for his major big events, but when he would travel around the country or do events, he would almost always work off of large index cards.â€
“Whether one uses note cards or a teleprompter, the American people are a lot more concerned about the plans relayed than the method of delivery. This is not always true of the media,†said Bill Burton, the deputy press secretary.
In a break from his routine, Obama did not use a teleprompter during his pre-inauguration speech at a factory in Bedford Heights, Ohio, and his delivery seemed to suffer.
He paused too long at parts. He accentuated the wrong words. But be it extra precaution, style or a mental crutch, Obama has shown in the past that he needs the teleprompter.
Before Obama entered a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on Wednesday to announce his crackdown on defence contracts, a CNN reporter asked an Obama aide if the teleprompter could be moved further away from the podium or lowered. The answer was an unequivocal ‘no.’
Online source