No. I watched it closely and there were not the cuts and pauses that one is able to pick up on “videotape”... (do they still use videotape?).
Obama has been coached to improve his speech patterns. He has greatly improved.
What I find interesting is that as a Senator with such poor speaking skills in the past, that no one ever thought to tell him to fix it years ago... or at least eighteen months ago when he started to run for president.
If they had, his performance at Saddleback would have received higher marks from the viewing audience.
I think he is ready to speak tonight. I just wonder what his answers will be. Because we can no longer count on the um’s and ah’s to bring him down.
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I agree, he's improved, probably due to intense coaching. I'm guessing that the McCain campaign will be releasing increasingly aggressive ads between now and election day. The focus will have to be on Obama's history and actions, because you're right, we're past the superficial.