Obamateurism of the Day
posted at 8:05 am on January 27, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
When Barack Obama dragged a teleprompter to a school, most people assumed that he used them to talk to the kids — when he actually used them for a press conference in another classroom later. The optics of that were, er, poorly considered, which Jon Stewart wound up criticizing, but for the most part it was a bum rap.
But this … this is just embarrassing (via Rich Lowry):
This isn’t a press conference, a speech, or even a White House briefing. It’s a committee meeting. As Rich said, people used to poke fun at Reagan’s notecards. Either he needs this much help to get through opening remarks in a normal business meeting, or he’s become a little to attached to the TOTUS … and neither option makes him look very professional.
Got an Obamateurism of the Day? If you see a foul-up by Barack Obama, e-mail it to me at obamaisms@edmorrissey.com with the quote and the link to the Obamateurism. I’ll post the best Obamateurisms on a daily basis, depending on how many I receive. Include a link to your blog, and I’ll give some link love as well. And unlike Slate, I promise to end the feature when Barack Obama leaves office.
Illustrations by Chris Muir of Day by Day. Be sure to read the adventures of Sam, Zed, Damon, and Jan every day!
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He is only professional at community organizing and blaming others.
I’m not going to watch his SOTU show, although I think we should start an “office” pool as to how many strawmen he’ll use to try to sell the idea he is a changed man and gets the message. He is a master of disguise.
Beaglemom on January 27, 2010 at 9:14 AM
Y’all seem to forget that Obama “has a gift” in terms of delivering a public
spectaclespeech. I did not realize that his “gift” was a pair of teleprompters. You are the tops, champ.cyclown on January 27, 2010 at 9:15 AM
I used to laugh about Obama’s reliance on TOTUS.
Now I’m just getting angry. TOTUS is not a crutch, it’s obviously a delivery system for someone else to feed Obama what to say.
Who is the man behind the TOTUS?
Jason Coleman on January 27, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Michelle 0bama.
OmahaConservative on January 27, 2010 at 9:19 AM
Oh my…..
BigWyo on January 27, 2010 at 9:21 AM
Only if I’d had a teleprompter when I was a child to argue my defenses while my parents were “bringing down the hammer” on my poor decisions. The whole process of being responsible for my actions could have been altered, and I may have become an accomplished community organizer.
(heavy sigh)
Rovin on January 27, 2010 at 9:22 AM
I can totally sense that the electronic leash is going to fall off this dog and it’s going to bite someone. How can this continue, how is it that this bubble persists? This is completely absurd. If you can’t stand up or sit down with your peeps and say, “look, what are your ideas, let’s wrap our arms around the problem….” then you are completely rudderless.
All of the blue curtain, large screen graphics, podium and light show is wrapping paper on a crappy present, frosting on a dirt cake, and candy apple paint on a rusty car—-there’s nobody fooled any longer, there’s no leader under those clothes.
ted c on January 27, 2010 at 9:23 AM
I’m waiting for the teleprompter-programmer guy to finally decide he has had enough and decides to go out in a blaze of glory.
Barack Obama reading from the teleprompter:
“So, regarding the plans for Iran we have decided that the best approach, in the interest of the US, and the world, is to…
You put your right foot in
You put your right foot out
You put your right foot in
And you ~shake~ it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
ah-h-h, mm-m-m… !?!…”
Yoop on January 27, 2010 at 9:23 AM
Notecards, many of which Reagan wrote himself in longhand.
There is no evidence that this president can actually write.
publiuspen on January 27, 2010 at 9:24 AM
We’re starting to see the strings on this puppet more and more.
Mojave Mark on January 27, 2010 at 9:25 AM
“This just shows how urgently we need national health care in this country. Our chickens have come home to roost.”
jwolf on January 27, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Without TOTUS, there would be no POTUS!
GarandFan on January 27, 2010 at 9:28 AM
Personally, truthfully, and seriously, at this point I would take Joe Biden.
Yoop on January 27, 2010 at 9:29 AM
Does anyone remember that podium he created back when he was President elect? He looked arrogant and pompous with that get up.
But this new portable TOTUS stage is way over the top on the arrogance meter. More evidence that The One’s handlers are campaigners with no clue how to govern.
EconomicNeocon on January 27, 2010 at 9:30 AM
Jason Coleman on January 27, 2010 at 9:16 AM
Great point.
I’m a military trained ‘instructor’. We are taught to ‘teach’ or speak from an outline (usually) but are also taught to speak impromptu. What aids in this and keeps teaching materials to a minimum is knowledge of your subject – my specialty was firearms and marksmanship, but I could also step in front of a crowd and deliver a speech or talk from the cuff when needed on other stuff.
Obama didn’t need the TOTUS to speak to the kids, but he needs it to speak to a room of, what, fifteen people? Really?
Which is what makes your point a good one. Can Obama speak bout anything off the cuff? Does he have any inherent knowledge about anything he’s in charge of or overseeing?
This goes beyond an amateurish speaker – it shows how little Obama must really do to prepare. Does he study – anything? If he did, everything wouldn’t be a ‘prepared speech’. he could talk from notes or an outline – and use the audience (at least in the types of cases represented by this meeting) to help him fill in the details – they are supposedly the SME’s after all, right?
This is more than a bit disconcerting…
catmman on January 27, 2010 at 9:31 AM
BIDEN WOULD BE AN IMPROVEMENT
reliapundit on January 27, 2010 at 9:31 AM
Linus’s security blanket comes to mind.
Oldnuke on January 27, 2010 at 9:32 AM
…and, and, and… somebody’s been f***ing them!!!
Yoop on January 27, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Well, now we know why he wasn’t a trial lawyer…he can’t think on his feet.
What a ma-ROON!
ladyingray on January 27, 2010 at 9:32 AM
Teleprompters are President Obama ‘Magic eight Ball’ telling him his future 24/7.
MSGTAS on January 27, 2010 at 9:33 AM
Obama handcuffs his teleprompter to his wrists. Neither hand “knows” what it’s doing since Obama is merely the mouthpiece puppet behind TOTUS.
The worst lesson Obama shared in his visit with our school children was that no one need learn anything any longer. No bother studying to memorize anything. No one is responsible for anything any more. Just rely on the computer to tell you what to say and do. Know nothing, DHIMMIWITS!
The same applies to Congress, voting on legislation they have not written; voting on legislation they have not read; voting on legislation that has not gone through the proper Congressional legislative protocol according to historical precedence for authenticity.
NASA announced last year that it was forfeiting our Moon to international interests. The Orlando Sentinel has the story today that Obama is nixing the Moon.
As a child during his presidency, I knew JFK, and Obama is no John F. Kennedy. Listen to Obama’s State of Diversity Speech tonight, and weep if you must, but LAUGH AT THE DHIMMIWIT who thinks we are extinct dodos no longer alive in his way.
Mark Steyn yesterday on Rush advised the loyal opposition in Congress to laugh aloud in derision every time Obama tells another whopping LIE. Give the Alinksy Mouthpiece his own medicine: RIDICULE.
maverick muse on January 27, 2010 at 9:34 AM
Baraoke Obama
Does anyone think he could keep his BS straight without this electronic crutch? He needs to be reminded which version of reality he’s peddling at any given moment, lest he contradict himself within the span of 45 seconds.
Bruce in NH on January 27, 2010 at 9:35 AM
Obama is nothing but a Pelosi puppet…
………what a joke!!!
Baxter Greene on January 27, 2010 at 9:39 AM
This is simply sad. He is pathetic. Doesn’t he have any clue how absurd he looks? TOTUS becomes more powerful every day.
msactionjackson on January 27, 2010 at 9:42 AM
ladyingray on January 27, 2010 at 9:32 AM
So he shares more in common with Haiti than the same religious ideology of Liberation Theology expressed through black supremacy, with the utterly corrupt former president deposed and exiled in shame, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
maverick muse on January 27, 2010 at 9:47 AM
I naively hope that this constant overdependence on the teleprompter will kill, finally, the absurd myth that Obama is some kind of super smart genius the likes of which have never before blessed us with their presence.
jwolf on January 27, 2010 at 9:47 AM
MKH, Obama isn’t on your shoulder any more, is he?
maverick muse on January 27, 2010 at 9:48 AM
I would love it if this became the GOP chant during tonight’s SOTU.
highhopes on January 27, 2010 at 9:48 AM
One of the downsides of an empty suit is being able to pipe in the talking points without being too noticeable.
mizflame98 on January 27, 2010 at 9:49 AM
one last speech, no totus required, 2 words:
I resign.
RealMc on January 27, 2010 at 9:49 AM
The funny part about this is this is how it will go down in history. So many pics and video of him with these smoked glass panels on both sides of Him. Teleprompters are a necessary part of Ob*ma.
I wonder how they will carve these teleprompters on Mt.Rushmore. Is there enough room?
Electrongod on January 27, 2010 at 9:50 AM
Obama, the Dhimmiwit of the Teleprompter, is stupidly clinging to it like a toddler to his security blanket.
HA! This is what being the most computer savvy candidate evah meant. Obama doesn’t even equate as well as a dead dodo (they are extinct) that his man called Americans. He is only a mechanized mimic, an already outdated Replicant of Marx.
maverick muse on January 27, 2010 at 9:55 AM
Do we know if he also wears an earpiece? Should he have a green dot on the back of his head like the NFL DBs?
curved space on January 27, 2010 at 9:55 AM
But he’s clean and articulate and his pants are creased so nicely. Your standards are unrealistic, Ed.
SKYFOX on January 27, 2010 at 9:56 AM
Nixon established that precedence, but Obama can claim the title for having resigned sooner than anyone else ever will.
maverick muse on January 27, 2010 at 9:57 AM
Call your congresscritters and demand Scott Brown be present at the SOTU!
OmahaConservative on January 27, 2010 at 9:57 AM
President Pinocchio–who is Stromboli?
Nose growing in 3…2…1… YOU LIE !!!
Will the real Jiminy Cricket PLEASE save America?
Steve Z on January 27, 2010 at 10:13 AM
ugh He is such an embarrassment! I can tell u where Id like him to put that darn teleprompter….
becki51758 on January 27, 2010 at 10:20 AM
What is it going to take for people to realize that this guy is a sock puppet, and the Teleprompter is the hand in the sock?????
n0doz on January 27, 2010 at 10:22 AM
Once one of the teleprompters crashed to the floor.
My hope is tonight both teleprompters come crashing down and leave zero standing naked and stuttering.
dragondrop on January 27, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Obama refers to himself 132 times in 1 speech.
mizflame98 on January 27, 2010 at 10:36 AM
I’m of the school of thought that uses note cards if they are needed for small speeches and presentations. Obviously for REALLY long stuff like the SOTU, a teleprompter makes sense. Pres. Obama uses a teleprompter for EVERY single event. I’ve had to talk in front of 20+ people before sans teleprompter.
Rightwingguy on January 27, 2010 at 10:38 AM
LOL. A teleprompter would be nice for a re-enlistment/commissioning oath ceremony.
Rightwingguy on January 27, 2010 at 10:40 AM
“I’m an excellent driver.”
T J Green on January 27, 2010 at 10:44 AM
Bringing down TOTUS in the SOTU would be the ultimate hack. I’d so love to see that.
Maquis on January 27, 2010 at 10:45 AM
You are exactly right, we must all remember that this idiot was bought & paid for by Soros and the unions.
royzer on January 27, 2010 at 10:52 AM
We The People only count as a name on the bottom of the tax return. The “I” guy will decide how HE wants to spend it.
Yoop on January 27, 2010 at 10:53 AM
Waterloo began several months ago when TOTUS spontaneously combusted.
It’s been a fun ride.
jeff_from_mpls on January 27, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Proposing to Michelle, a teleprompter.
The birth of his girls. A Teleprompter.
Thanking Teddy for the dog. A teleprompter.
Saying…Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom. A teleprompter.
Is anyone really surprised? LOL
capejasmine on January 27, 2010 at 11:02 AM
The Onion
mizflame98 on January 27, 2010 at 11:09 AM
Give the guy a break! The screen reads “Middle Class Task Force.” What could he know about middle-class America?
Sowell Disciple on January 27, 2010 at 11:10 AM
Yes. I think Pookie has registered some surprise. He’s still “standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” waiting for a drive-by involving a “unicorn in a flatbed Ford”.
Somethin’ about a truck in there, too. ;-)
Yoop on January 27, 2010 at 11:11 AM
He needs the teleprompter so he can keep his nose up in the air!
DJ from MA on January 27, 2010 at 11:21 AM
EMPTY. SUIT.
jukin on January 27, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Do the three people it takes to cart the teleprompter around count as jobs saved or created?
MagicalPat on January 27, 2010 at 11:30 AM
This photo plus the school photo do help explain why he hasn’t had a press conference, with questions afterward, for 7 months. You cannot have someone type in the answers into TOTUS fast enough for him to read them. He is fully aware that without scripted, rehearsed responses he says um and er a lot. Or he commits verbal blunders. He is trying to protect his legacy as the great orator in the history books.
GnuBreed on January 27, 2010 at 11:37 AM
This is just one more example that blows away the myth that his supporters hold so dear, that he is such a great speaker. The fact that Obie One Obambie has to rely on the TOTUS for everything proves that he is a poor speaker, but a great reader.
chewmeister on January 27, 2010 at 12:08 PM
TOTUS IS POTUS!
Kinda like Soylent Green is people..
justltl on January 27, 2010 at 12:24 PM
Give him a break…talking to a middle class task force is like speaking German to him.
Christian Conservative on January 27, 2010 at 1:12 PM
Hey Mr. President! Ever heard of Power Point? All of us “stupid small business people” use it when we make presentations in meetings. It’s real easy to use, even you could do it.
Susanboo on January 27, 2010 at 1:58 PM
a) what is the point of a “middle class task force”?
b) how did the people in the room not bust out laughing at BHO?
Willie on January 27, 2010 at 2:21 PM
I agree with The Anchoress thinking these images had to be Photoshopped if it weren’t for the fact they were released from the WH press. It really shows his growing insecurity? Like a frightened captain on a doomed ship that clings ever more tightly to the helm and won’t…let…go.
DeoGratias on January 27, 2010 at 2:39 PM
My boss had the answer -
The so-called ‘teleprompters’ are actully holographic projection machines, to hide the fact that Obama is completely artificial (hence anybody can use him as a blank screen).
Sir Napsalot on January 27, 2010 at 2:46 PM
Only thing he’s “professional” at is lying and being serially inept; what a worthless turd!
jgdp on January 27, 2010 at 3:30 PM
Those who can; do. Those who cannot; teach!
jgdp on January 27, 2010 at 3:32 PM
The last time he did not bring a prompter along is probably meeting with Sarkozy. No wonder the french dude was wondering what is there there.
Sir Napsalot on January 27, 2010 at 3:50 PM
He’s beginning to seem schizophrenic to me: no tie when he should be wearing one, shout-outs at what is certainly a very serious moment, bowing in all the wrong places, his imaginary friend TOTUS magically appearing at the weirdest times…
RalphyBoy on January 27, 2010 at 5:43 PM
He’d still need one:
Left screen “I”
Right screen “Resign”
DrAllecon on January 27, 2010 at 8:25 PM
Or in his case, Austrian.
DrAllecon on January 27, 2010 at 8:26 PM
Apparently it’s impossible for Obama to speak without help from TOTUS.
And it’s only a matter of time until someone notices that when George Soros moves his fingers, Obama’s arms flap….
landlines on January 27, 2010 at 8:28 PM
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