Posted on 02/16/2009 7:23:23 AM PST by Behind Liberal Lines
the White House is looking to install a small video or computer screen into the podium used by the president for press conferences and events in the White House. "It would make it easier for the comms guys to pass along information without being obvious about it," says the adviser.
The screen would indicate whom to call on, seat placement for journalists, pass along notes or points to hit, and so forth, says the adviser.
Using a screen is nothing new for Obama; almost nothing he said in supposedly unscripted townhall events during the presidential campaign was unscripted, down to many of the questions and the answers to those questions. Teleprompter screens at the events scrolled not only his opening remarks, but also statistics and information he could use to answer questions.
Obama had a teleprompter set up for his remarks last week, before taking questions, but the White House couldn't use the teleprompter for anything but the remarks, because the journalists were so close to the screens. Further complicating matters, teleprompter copy can't be easily updated in real time, in a setting like a White House press conference.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
” This is going to take a lot of hard work whenever we get rid of this shuck n jiver.”
Glad to see someone else considers his act to be “ shuck n jive”
I sent that comment to O’Reilly’s website following his interview with Obama. Never received a response or at least a thanks for letting us know your opinion.
“A life-sized puppet of a president!”
and who is pulling the strings!!
The more I read about Saul Alinksy .....
” Your comment about President Bush “...he could not string two coherent sentences together if his life depended on it.”
Sometimes one ad-libbed sentence is enough...
When someone at Ground Zero yelled they couldn’t hear him, Bush barked into a bullhorn: “I can hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.” “
Thanks for pointing this out. He was way better than portrayed.
Bush came to speak to the fortune 50 company I retired from.
He didn’t use a telepromter, rarely referenced notes, and took questions from employees in the audience who weren’t pre-selected.
Was also very gracious, along with Laura, to shake hands with anyone who approached him following the meeting.
r9etb wrote:I kind of see your point, r9etb.
I don't think it's reasonable in a general sense to say that the use of notes is an indication of "not having a clue." I'm sure there have been times when you've used notes yourself
If he wants to bring some 3x5 cards with notes to the press conference, and when a reporter asks a question about health care, he flips to the card(s) with his major points on health care, that's one thing. So he looks down occasionally and checks his notes.
In that case, everyone knows what is going on. He's got notes to remind him so he remembers all of his main points.
But the worry with the teleprompter is that he's not actually the one answering the question. With a "dynamically updated" teleprompter, the answers he gives aren't his own words. They are the words of whoever is feeding the teleprompter. He becomes just a reader, a puppet for whoever is feeding him the information.
If he's so poor at answering questions, why bother holding press conferences. Just send out whoever is feeding the teleprompter and have them hold the press conference.
Precicely why Detroit, Phifhadelphia and most of the African countries remain in deep dodo. Lot easier to talk $hit and pad their pockets than do what’s right. Same here.
You Said ....”This is going to take a lot of hard work whenever we get rid of this —”
It will not happen if we do not stick together. We now have 3 ‘parties’ that vote under one ticket — Republican!!
And all thru the last election we hear -— I would rather vote Dem than for McCain -— or — I’m not voting this time-—. Yet, look what the Democrat Party has done for us!!
We forget what Ronald Reagan said .... you know .. the 80% rule. If we do not stick together the door is wide open for voter fraud! Just look at 2006.
I wonder how many disruptors, right here on FR, do we have.
Ever since the November election I have developed a serious case of Turrets Syndrome. Teleprompter Jesus is the biggest fraud ever.
I've already said that, in Obama's case, there is every likelihood that a teleprompter could be abused. Then again, 3x5 notecards could just as easily be abused.
Your underlying assumption here is that Obama has no words, knowledge, or opinion other than what would appear on his teleprompter -- that he would just mindlessly (and flawlessly) read whatever words show up on the screen. Even for Obama, it's difficult to take that seriously.
It makes neither practical nor political sense to attempt that level of mind control. To be of any real use, this prompter would be limited to the display of one or two "mind-joggers," from which Obama would have to supply the bulk of his answer from his own mind, based on his own knowledge of the talking points behind it.
The man can barely speak when he’s away from his teleprompter. This isn’t about giving his memory a jog its about giving the actor his lines so people don’t realize he’s an empty suit.
Terrific.
This country is in SO much trouble...
Just for grins, why don't you try to imagine the process by which the teleprompter would be used to feed Obama his entire response to a reporter's question. Imagine yourself trying to do it, and make it look natural. It's just not reasonable.
The inability to speak well off-the-cuff is not the same as not knowing what one wants to say. The difficulty is mostly a matter of arranging and expressing one's thoughts, rather than not having thoughts in the first place. Obama does well with a teleprompter because it gets him over that particular hurdle -- but it's a plain fact that when material appears on the teleprompter, Obama has already been over it and practiced it.
That wouldn't work nearly as well in a less-controlled environment, such as a press conference -- unless Obama was already keyed-in on who he'd be calling, and what they'd ask.
As has been noted elsewhere, Obama apparently already does this -- the teleprompter would make it perhaps more convenient, but it would be nothing new.
The potential for abuse does exist -- it might allow him to use a context-sensitive list of who to call on, for example.
But it doesn't allow somebody to write all his answers for him.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain......”
<<Really!! Emperor has no clothes! He’s so smart, he’s such a gifted orator yet he needs a teleprompter and HELP LINES at a press conference?! This is not tv show Who’s the next Millionaire?!
A little electronic jamming of his teleprompter, from time to time, would be quite entertaining. Assuming it's contents are broadcast over the airwaves. Not sure of the legalities of such a move though.
Thank you for your first hand account of President Bush. That means a lot.
r9etb wrote:Not really. Not if we assume that the press conference is a legitimate event where reporters ask the questions independently (meaning the question is being heard for the first time at the press conference). If the question isn't known in advance, the 3x5 note card can't have the exact words of a prepared answer.
Then again, 3x5 notecards could just as easily be abused.
Obama doesn't do well when he goes 'off the script' in the teleprompter. When asked questions, he often gives more honest answers, which reveal his true position, well to the left of what polls well. The whole "spread the wealth around" comment to Joe the plumber is a famous example. Nobody preparing his remarks in the teleprompter would ever have written the phrase "spread the wealth around" into his script.
Now, if we had a team of writers preparing the 3x5 cards in the next room after they hear the question, and handing them to him to read, that would be the same as a teleprompter.
r9etb wrote:No, my assumption is that the teleprompter isn't just about telling him what he should say. It's also about avoiding saying things that he really wants to say, but his advisors and focus groups think he should hide.
Your underlying assumption here is that Obama has no words, knowledge, or opinion other than what would appear on his teleprompter
He wants it for two reasons. First, he doesn't always want to show his real opinions and plans. That's what all the "uh, umm, " is about. It's him filtering out the things his advisors tell him he shouldn't say. And the other reason he wants the teleprompter is because all those "ummmm, err," and the stuttering are his "tell" (to use poker terminology). When he's stuttering and "ummmm, err," you know you aren't getting the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The teleprompter help him conceal things that he wants to conceal.
Sounds like you heard Harry Reid and found him more persuasive. Nothing to do with the media naaahhhhh...It always gave Bush his due.
I gladly voted for McCAIN and he infuriated me like Spector does- but thAT WAS all over during the campaign. HE IS LIGHT-YEARS BETTER than this fool.
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