Posted by
Bob Wood aka TrekTek on Thursday, March 26, 2009 8:46:10 PM
The Mechanics and Staging:
The Tuesday night Press Conference started a lot of conversation amongst some of my friends about PrezBO's use of a TelePrompTer for virtually every speech or opening statement. One of my friends said, "I have 2 words for the teleprompter critics: So What?"
Use of a TelePrompTer would not be an issue if he wasn't so reliant upon them at every speaking opportunity. His biggest failure in the use of TPT's is that his eyes are always fixed on the damn machine, as if he doesn't rehearse these statements and internalize them before giving the speech. During the campaign, I noticed that his head was always tilted up - toward one of the TPT screens - even though his audience was (in most venues) six to ten feet below him physically. When you are looking down your nose, it is hard to make eye contact with the people to whom you are speaking.
His staff has even said that they were investigating ways to incorporate a monitor in the Presidential lecturn during press conferences so that staff could feed answers to him in real time.
Some time ago I had an experience with a TelePrompTer at a major company's employee meeting in Georgia. The TPT operator was feeding the text of the keynoter's address to the TPT while I was on-stage doing the "Testing, testing..." thing with the microphones and one of my associates was setting the equalization on the sound system. Never having seen the address before - and not knowing any of the technical jargon - I began reading from the TPT and two LCD monitors in front of the stage as I walked back and forth. It is not easy to do, but you can read ahead of your voice a few words and make eye contact as you complete a sentence. PrezBO hasn't learned after two years of TPT experience to do this.
Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny have used cue cards effectively without impairing their ability to connect with an audience. They were never so obvious about using cue cards as Obama is about using a TelePrompTer. With no way of knowing, I would bet that none of his advisors has made Obama sit down and critically watch himself in front of a TPT event. They should. He COULD improve his performance.
My educated guess is that his advisors are aware of this weakness in his public personna, and that is why they dumped the TPT on Tuesday night for the LCD panel. However, I watched his eyes during his statement. They hardly ever left the monitor - even when he turned his head. It is as if he is afraid that he will never find that huge monitor again if he ever looks away from it. And I am not the only one to make the same observation.
My friend says, "One last word about President Obama using a Teleprompter: Enough!"
As for it being "Enough!", with all due respect, calling George W. Bush "dumb, stupid, etc." for mangling a word here and there was never enough for the last eight years. And we are still hearing from PrezBO about all of the "problems" he inherited. I am tired of hearing "inherited" from this man. He knew what was coming before he ran for the office. He spent two years screaming "the worst economy..." He won. It is time for him to deal with it, if he can.
As for his content during the press conference:
| Quote: |
| "You know, there was a lot of outrage and finger-pointing last week, and much of it is understandable," Obama said of the bonus issue in his opening remarks. "I'm as angry as anybody about those bonuses that went to some of the very same individuals who brought our financial system to its knees." |
AIG is an insurance company, not a bank. It just so happens that AIG made huge contributions to Obama, Sen. Christopher Dodd, and others. I have been told that AIG insures the pensions of Congress, though I haven't been able to confirm it with a news source.
Does anyone really think that if AIG had filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy that the world would have ended? Does anyone really think that State Farm, Allstate, and the hundreds of other insurers would not have stepped in to fill the void? Does anyone remember that New York Attorney General Elliott Spitzer forced Hank Greenburg out as Chairman and CEO of the company that he founded and built into an honorable institution that went downhill after his departure? Forbes.com has this analysis.
Be that as it may...
Congress enrolled the bailout bill on a Thursday night, voted for it on Friday afternoon without reading it and left town. This was too much of an emergency to let it wait for five days for the public (not to mention, our representatives) to read it.
One problem. PrezBO was headed for Illinois for Valentine's Day with Michelle. He didn't come back to Washington until Monday, and then he had to stage the signing in Detroit for Tuesday! Some emergency!
| Quote: |
| "Bankers and executives on Wall Street need to realize that enriching themselves on the taxpayers' dime is inexcusable, that the days of outsized rewards and reckless speculation that puts us all at risk have to be over," the president told reporters and the nation. |
Had ANYONE read the bill, including Obama, they would have known the Dodd Amendment was in it, and that the bonuses were going to be paid.
For that matter, if ANYONE had read the bill and taken their oath of office seriously (to preserve, protect and defend The Constitution), they would have realized that government was overstepping its bounds and voted against this unconstitutional disaster. Taxpayers should have not been put on the hook in the first place.
| Quote: |
| "At the same time, the rest of us can't afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit. That drive is what has always fueled our prosperity, and it is what will ultimately get these banks lending and our economy moving once more," he said. |
Finally, Obama gets it right! (But as you can see, he has taken both sides of the issue!)
And it was him and his fellow Democrats who have demonized the AIG executives and employees and sent their ACORN minions to demonstrate at their homes for the last two weeks. Government policies got us into this mess, but the finger is pointed squarely at private American citizens - not at the politicians who caused the problem in the first place.
As usual, I welcome your comments...