Obama In St Patrick's Day Teleprompt Blunder

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

A teleprompt blunder has led to Barack Obama thanking himself in a speech at the White House in a St Patrick's Day celebration.

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen was just a few paragraphs into an address in Washington when he realised it all sounded a bit too familiar.

It was. He was repeating the speech President Barack Obama had just read from the same teleprompter.

Mr Cowen stopped, turned to the president and said: "That's your speech."

A laughing Mr Obama returned to the podium to take over but it seems the script had finally been switched and the US president ended up thanking himself for inviting everyone to the party.

Mr Obama is an accomplished orator but is becoming known in America as the "teleprompt president" over his reliance on the machine when he gives a speech.

Earlier in the day, the president claimed an Irish ancestry, saying his mother's family could be traced back to Ireland.

He joked to Cowen: "We may be cousins. We haven't sorted that through yet."

Speaking in the Oval Office, he told the Irish premier:"Not all Americans are Irish but all Americans support those who stand on the side of peace and peace will prevail."

The fountains at the White House were dyed green for the day at the request of the First Lady and guests at the cocktail reception drank green sparkling wine from a Californian vineyard.

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon from Northern Ireland and Maggie McCarthy, a traditional Irish dancer and musician from Cork, and the vocal group Celtic Thunder all attended.

Mr Obama joked about the free-flowing bar and warned his guests not to wear lampshades on their heads in front of the cameras.

link

[chri'stina 190]

They did not have the luck of the Irish on their side!

[Danno 1,228]

Well you know, live by the teleprompter.. die by it I guess but;

I would give a thumbs up to the nice

way in which they welcomed the Irish, seems this went off a lot better than the British abortion not long ago so maybe they are picking up their stride in this regard.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

I don't what he uses as long as he does his best to do what he says.

[Teacher Mark 53]

The gift for the Irish Prime Minister:

Edited March 19, 2009 by Joe Six-Pack

[NickD 203]

Wife commented about not knowing about St. Patrick's day, but couldn't make up her mind what to wear. Maybe St. Patrick inspired her, she wore a green sweater with a black skirt to work. Ha, said she was dressed like everyone else wearing the same thing.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

A Google search on this title produces 6,960 hits. Our economy is in the tank thanks to the Rethuglicans and this is all they can pin on Obama? Sad saps.

[NickD 203]

A Google search on this title produces 6,960 hits. Our economy is in the tank thanks to the Rethuglicans and this is all they can pin on Obama? Sad saps.

Yeah, I listened to Bush's sad parting disappointment speech. Wasn't his fault that Katrina struck or that Iraq didn't have WMD's, nor the high price of oil, or the financial collapse. These were things that just happened under his watch and were all disappointments. Could happen to anybody.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here's an example of the Rethuglicans' obsession over teleprompters and the comments by bloggers...bravo to Fred Thompson for addressing real issues this country is facing.

....

Radio Fred: Torpidity You Can Believe In

In the category of broadcast narcosis the nominees have to include Fred Thompson's new radio show, which just wrapped up its first week of slumberous meandering down the avenues of right wing talking point city.

On the air Fred mumbles and twangs his way through vast oversimplifications of policy, detouring at times into the absurdly tangential. Today he obsessed over Barack Obama's use of a teleprompter, which surely will bring down the republic. Even sillier was Fred's take on the pace of Obama administration staffing, which easily scores as our first (perhaps of many) Radio Fredism of the week: "They just appointed a FEMA head yesterday. Well, FEMA is important, but the weather may hold off a while."

...........

What is the obsession with Mr. Obama's use of the teleprompter?! In giving a long speech, one either reads from cards/papers on the lectern or one reads from a teleprompter. Reagan used a teleprompter, too. So the right wing kooks accuse the left of acting like Obama is super-human, then they make fun of him for not being super-human. What is wrong with these people?!

.....

Obama is also good without the teleprompter, if you watch his press conferences you will see. As Sean says, yes he does pause to think about the question, not just throw out some prefabricated jargon that often doesn't have anything to do with the question, a la Sara Palin. But he's forthright and honest and very intelligent sounding. So Fred Thompson, Phil Valentine, Sean Hannity, and El Rushbo himself can spend hours talking about Obama and his teleprompter. No body outside of the wing-nut base cares. And what's funny, these are the same guys who gushed over Palin and her speech she made at the Republican convention. A speech she didn't even write and read straight from a teleprompter.

http://blogs.nashvillescene.com/pitw/2009/...ard_winning.php

.....

Here's an Ad I'm sure some of our Rethuglicans will be posting here a lot.

Designer John Pszeniczny has come up with a classic.

.....

Emphasis on Obama's use of teleprompters has long been a right wing (and, I suppose, pro-Hillary) anti-Obama talking point, the implicit criticism being that since he's such a good speaker he should be able to work without prepared remarks. Inability to do so, one supposes, is supposed to indicate that he is merely an empty vessel—an actor reading someone else's fancy words.

Not surprisingly, conservative bloggers have picked up on the report. One speechwriter-turned-blogger wrote:

... at some point people may begin to wonder why the most gifted orator to hit the White House in some time hasn't taken the training wheels off.

Let's be clear on the criticism here: The president uses prepared remarks. Horrors.

The teleprompter is a fancy version of a prepared text. Used skillfully, it enables a speaker to deliver a speech more effectively because one does not have to look down periodically to read one's speech. But it's an acquired skill, and not one easily learned, which is why presidents (and others) are sometimes loath to use the thing. Dwight Eisenhower was the first president to use one and hated it: He thought that it could work if the speaker could control the pace at which the text scrolls by. But again the important point here is that using a teleprompter means that the prepared text scrolls by on a screen rather than on pages in front of the speaker. That's it.

Among the modern presidents, extemporaneous versus reading-prepared remarks skills varied. FDR was exceptional with a prepared speech and could also ad-lib; Truman was terrible tied to a text but very effective off the cuff; JFK was at ease both ways (his "ich bin ein Berliner" speech was mostly extemporized); Nixon preferred to speak without prepared remarks, instead memorizing an outline and then speaking without a text; Reagan was a master with a prepared speech and was OK off the cuff so long as a quip or anecdote would suffice, but extemporizing with substance could be problematic; Clinton was well-known for his ability to extemporize (recall his speech to Congress when the teleprompter had the wrong speech).

But let's return to Obama and unpack the charge against him: He uses prepared remarks.

So it's a fault that he values words enough to prepare them in advance and then stick to the rhetorical plan? The fact that he's the most gifted orator of his generation is the residue of hard work and design, not of coasting on raw talent. That's to be commended.

The teleprompter criticism implies that he is merely a fine voice delivering someone else's speeches. But Obama is an accomplished author in his own right and is widely reported to be deeply engaged in the composition of his own speeches. And few who have watched his performances at press events and town hall-type meetings since he took office could argue that he is an empty suit.

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesi...ing-points.html

[Nagishkaw 510]

The gift for the Irish Prime Minister:

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I don't what he uses as long as he does his best to do what he says.

Obama's an idiot who does what his teleprompter tells him to do.

[almaty 19]

hmmm..i think, you have rehashed and changed the names/subject

orginal:

bush is an idiot and does what cheney tells him to do.,....

[fozzie 41]

I don't what he uses as long as he does his best to do what he says.

Obama's an idiot who does what his teleprompter tells him to do.

Most long speeches by politicians involve the use of teleprompters. Maybe bush should have done too so that he didn't end up sounding like a complete imbecile!

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That's pretty funny.

Still Obama's got a *long* ways to go before he beats Bush and gets his own area in bookstore humor sections.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Oh Lucky, look here: