Free Republic

New Delhi, November 1, 2010: Not an inch of the ITC Maurya Sheraton will be without surveillance when US President Barack Obama arrives for a two – night stay. The luxury hotel is swarming with Delhi Police commandos a week before he checks in with wife Michelle. Obama arrives for a Nov 7 – 9 stay at the Presidential Suite of the south – west Delhi hotel and security is visibly tight even though police and hotel staff refuse to divulge details. Police commandos in combat gear have been stationed in Mercedes vans. Also fortifying the hotel are private guards...

Former Vice President Walter Mondale said on CNN that President Obama relies too much on teleprompters -- which Mondale called "idiot boards" -- when speaking to the American people. In a discussion of whether Obama projects empathy in his speeches, the 82 year-old Mondale said the president "has got to connect with the American people." When CNN host Wolf Blitzer asked why Obama has not shown more empathy, Mondale answered, "I've seen places where he's done it. The Milwaukee speech, I thought was terrific. I think some of these backyard events are terrific. But I think he -- he's very...

Mondale to Obama: Ditch the 'idiot boards' Former Vice President Walter Mondale suggested in an interview today President Obama stop relying on "idiot boards" -- teleprompters, that is -- to deliver his message to the American people. "He uses these idiot boards to read speeches in television, and I think he loses the connection that he needs emotionally with American voters," Mondale said in an interview set to air this evening on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer, according to a transcript from the network. "Idiot board" is a term used in television and movie production to refer to...