Obama Switches Off TelePrompTer (Gutsy Call!)

The Hill ^ | Tuesday, July 17, 2012 | Amy Parnes

[kristinn]

President Obama is weaning himself off his teleprompter.

At recent campaign events in Pennsylvania, Virginia and again Monday in Ohio, Obama spoke to crowds in high school gymnasiums and at crowded outdoor events without his teleprompter, instead using written notes.

The difference is dramatic. Instead of turning in his characteristic manner from right to left and back again, reading from the two sloping, clear-plastic planes of his teleprompter, Obama has glanced down at pages in a binder on his podium.

Team Obama thinks the switch, or partial switch — the president is not giving up the teleprompter entirely — will help him better connect with voters.

Critics have mocked Obama’s routine use of the teleprompter, including in speeches to schoolchildren. And the new use of written notes appears intended to trade away the smooth, distant demeanor of teleprompter rhetoric for a little more immediacy and vigor. A senior administration official acknowledged the shift in the president’s style, saying Obama is speaking “more extemporaneously.”

But the senior official said the lack of teleprompters has “less to do with image and more to do with upping the tempo” at campaign events, while creating more unscripted moments.

Not using a teleprompter lets Obama be more spontaneous on the stump. Since making the shift, the president at times has ad-libbed remarks while playing off his supporters’ reactions, something that had been difficult with a teleprompter.

“It’s become a crutch,” Tobe Berkovitz, a professor of communications at Boston University who specializes in political communications, said in describing Obama’s use of the teleprompter.

“It seemed as though he couldn’t go anywhere without them, and it made him seem unconfident and robotic in dealing with real people out there,” Berkovitz said.

Until recently, Obama was rarely seen without the two transparent panels at his side...

[NonValueAdded]

I guess they perfected the implant

[Secret Agent Man]

He’s doing this with incredibly small, and naive audiences that are not allowed to be heckling him. BFD. Takes no guts. Won’t help him either.

[dfwgator]

“I’m Barack Obama...Go F Yourself, America”

[Arrowhead1952]

I have to work this afternoon, but wife is coming back from Wichita KA. BUT, she was smart enough to drive to SA and fly out from there instead of ABIA. I think she will be coming in there well after he hits the runway. [wish that was literally]

[basil]

I wouldn’t walk across the street to see him.......

[Nip]

Let's do a real count of voters he speaks to in a high school gym.

Let's use a student body of 1,000. At a 15:1 student:teacher ratio that boils down to 16 to 20 teachers. Add in a 100% non-teaching staff overhead that's 30 to 40 confirmed voters.

Since most schools are a closed shop that means 30 to 40 Obama voters.

Add to it the LMSM staff and support teams you are looking at 1,000 glassy eyed students and around 80 actual Obama supporters.

But don't those students make great background?

[Arrowhead1952]

See your personal email.

[jcsjcm]

Yes since they have no other choice but to attend. Or get marked Absent! I think I would pull my child out so they wouldn’t have to be present during the one’s speech!