BHO and The Teleprompter

Carol E. Lee of Yahoo News broke a story on March 5th about BHO using teleprompters for all of his speaking engagements regardless of the size of the event. She made the point that past Presidents only used the teleprompter in the larger venues and that it is a bit unusual for BHO to use it all the time. Carol went on to report how the teleprompter proved to be awkward and cumbersome in smaller speaking venues such as press briefings where the President announced his cabinet selections. She also reported that the teleprompter make work "tricky for the television crews and photographers" and suggested that it could be a "crutch" or a "safety net."

One thing I learned a long time ago is that communication (especially public speaking) is an art form. So, there is no one absolute single technique or tool one should use that is superior to another. Although, I would have to agree that using a teleprompter at a press briefing seems a bit over the top and it would not be something that I would use, I say if BHO feels more comfortable using it and he feels more effective with it, then more power to him. As a conservative, ultimately, I am much more concerned about the words and the message that BHO is communicating than the communication tools that he is using.

If I may, I would like to offer some advice to BHO in case he or one of his staff happens to read this piece. Before the technology was available to make teleprompters possible, people were using cue cards. A teleprompter is nothing more than an electronic cue card anyway. Although a hard copy cue card does have it limitations, it would be a lot more versatile than a teleprompter in the smaller venues. This is what one of your predecessors did. His name was Ronald Reagan. Try it, you might be surprised how effective it is.

GW Bush was much maligned by his opposition for being, "dumb" and "stupid" throughout presidency. The next time I hear a liberal impugn W's intellect, I will have my snappy comeback ready to go. I will just say, "Well at least he did not need to use a teleprompter at his press briefings!"