Faster than a speeding conjunction! More powerful than a participle! Able to leap run on sentences in a single bound! Look! On TV! It's Ivy League! It's Big Ten! It's Teleprompterman!
OK, now let's get a bit serious. I am sure that many of you, like me watched with baited breath as President Obama addressed the nation on the outcome of his first 100 Days in office. I am equally sure that those with a critical nature, like me systematically picked apart the speech as if it was being presented by a member of a third grade debate team.
President Obama's opening remarks were incredibly strong, but it was easy to tell that they were scripted, and displayed for the President on a remote teleprompter, which may have been located somewhere to his immediate right side. Yes, the President's opening remarks about the state of the economy and the Swine Flu epidemic were extremely powerful, but that was about the only part of the hour long song and dance that was.
Opening the floor for questions, it became immediately obvious that the President had preferred individuals to which to turn. Most of the questions were subdued, and appeared to be designed to evoke a non-committal response from the President. Indeed the questions were designed to be clear an too the point; however, as many of us have previously observed, being clear and to the point often tends not tho be the forte of the President.
One of the very first questions centered on the Government's readiness to combat the swine flu epidemic. Now to the average layman, that we seem to be a question which could be answered in as little as 30 seconds. Goodness knows George Bush proved that just about any question could be answered within a matter of 30 seconds. President Obama, seemed to drum on for more than 10 minutes, often restating himself. At times it appeared as if the President was either fishing for a response, or waiting to be advised of how to respond. Several times during the dialog about the Swine Flu, the President's eyes could be observed as shifting low and to the right, as if he was reading his answers. That same behavior was even more prevalent while the President was responding to the question of whether or not the United States could secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons to ensure that they do not fall into the hands of Bin Laden and his band of thugs. After more than 5 minutes, President Obama still left the reporter begging the question. Had the question been posed the George Bush, the response would have been something to the tune of "They do not want to even think about trying to get a nuclear weapon" with the "They" relating to Bin Laden and the Taliban.
Then there was, and this could have been me, but there was the constantly annoying "Uh's" and "Um's". I honestly lost count after 50. The President has a law degree from Harvard, certainly he must have taken public speaking at some point during his tenure in college. Professor Smith would have thrown a desk at me if I resorted to "Uh's" and "Um's" during a speech, yet they seemed to be the primary basis of President Obama entire vocal presentation this evening.
Here's the bottom line America; as President of the United States, or any senior states-person for that matter, one should be able to effectively present him or herself vocally and without the assistance of a teleprompter or someone using a remote audio device. It was clear as to when the teleprompter was turned off, because that was the point where the "Um's" and "Uh's" began to take over. Heck, why not just throw in a "You know what I'm saying" for the road? In the world of public speaking, a teleprompter becomes a crutch. As with any crutch, after continued usage, it will eventually break. Save for one small exception, George W. Bush, America Presidents have typically been fairly articulate speakers. I am not to sure what happened with G. W. Bush, because his father G. H. W. Bush was an excellent public speaker. After this evening's speech, I am honestly beginning to question President Obama's public speaking abilities as well. Perhaps that is the reason he avoided appearing on Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union show. Tavis, with his immense vocabulary would have completely embarrassed the future President of the United States.
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