Pres. Obama and the Teleprompter

Michael Gerson has an interesting article at townhall.com arguing that the use of the teleprompter by Pres. Obama is not a bad thing. The teleprompter is just a tool. The point is that really great writing is really great writing no matter whether delivered from memory or a teleprompter. Mr. Gerson even uses two of my favorite speakers as examples, Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, both of whom were known to edit and re-edit their speeches, even to the point of near-memorization.

I would agree with Mr. Gerson's premise. I would agree that a great speech would be a great speech with or without a teleprompter. I dare say Lincoln and Churchill would have been great speakers in any age because they certainly could construct and convey ideas, ideals and principles in truly wonderful and inspiring ways. They took the time to craft their speeches. I would also say that great speeches are given in these modern times, and aided by a teleprompter. As those who read this blog regularly will know (thanks Mom) I am LDS, Latter-Day Saint or "Mormon." The LDS General Conference is coming up soon and the speakers will all use a teleprompter. They will also deliver some wonderful and inspiring words.

The problem I have with Mr. Gerson's article is not the premise, it is the conclusion. Pres. Obama is not a great speaker. He sounds polished and can deliver a speech well, but he has no substance. The "great speeches" he has delivered have not provided anything but great theatre. The only ideas I associate with Pres. Obama (after all his "great speeches") are hope and change, and his first months in office have soured those ideas. The teleprompter is a symptom of the real problem. The real problem is that Pres. Obama's speeches are flowery and vacuous. The great speeches of Lincoln and Churchill, the ones they tenderly and tenaciously crafted, contained great ideas and great substance. I cannot help but get the impression that Pres. Obama does use the teleprompter as a "crutch," not to avoid having to memorize the entire speech but to avoid having to spend too much time preparing it. I get the impression Pres. Obama thinks he could read the phone book off the teleprompter and his audience would be enraptured (which is probably, unfortunately true). At least Mr. Gerson and I agree on one thing: use of the teleprompter is not Pres. Obama's weakness.

From all the stuff I have seen and heard, I am very interested in getting Mark Levin's new book, "Liberty & Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto." I read Mark Levin's "Men In Black" and it was a great book. I am sure this new one will be just as good.

Pres. Obama and Darfur

Pres. Obama has a big test in front of him, as Michael Gerson explains the situation in Darfur. I will be very interested to see how Pres. Obama will deal with this possible, or likely, genocide. Mr. Gerson seems to believe that Pres. Obama has some "diplomatic capital" that can be used to help this situation. I am not so sure. I hope Pres. Obama is up for this task, for the sake of the people in Darfur. I am sure of what Pres. Obama's first step will be: blame Pres. Bush for leaving the situation in such a mess.

That Hurts

As usual, Prof. Hugh Hewitt delivers a great post about Pres. Obama's initial efforts in the office of POTUS. It is well worth the read, as are the links Prof. Hewitt provides. On the bright side for Pres. Obama, I thought he looked really good on the Tonight Show. That was a great suit.

Media Cover

I watched Pres. Obama on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno last night. First of all, I must say that I think it is a little weird to see the POTUS on a talk show promoting his administration in the same way a second-rate actor would be on a talk show promoting their latest movie. Plus, Pres. Obama is not really funny. The other thing I found weird about the interview was that the audience was so eager to laugh and applaud that they laughed at just about anything that came out of Pres. Obama's mouth. I do not mind that the POTUS is not a great comedian, it is just weird that so many people would respond that way. I think the President knows he has that ability because there were numerous times the President would say something like "I think the American people know..." and it was almost like the audience would listen and respond, "Yes, that is what I think." Luckily, there are a lot of people that do not let a charismatic President tell them what they think. And finally, even when Pres. Obama makes a mistake, the media is right there to cover for him. Pres. Obama's apology for the "Special Olympics" remark is nice and I believe sincere, but it is just one more example of the media bias. If Pres. Bush had made a comment like that, the media would have savaged him to no end, apology or not. And I think the sad thing is that since these two Presidents get such different treatment, there are opportunities we miss out on. For example, I would actually be curious to know what Pres. Bush's thoughts would be about the fun and "coolness" of being President. However, the media would have trivialized and complained if Pres. Bush had lowered himself to such inane reflections, especially during a financial crisis, but Pres. Obama is celebrated for his inane comments and glossy answers.

Which brings me to my last point: I think Jay Leno is a conservative in hiding. Since no one reads this blog (except my mom), I am not worried about "outing" Mr. Leno, but he asked some very interesting questions that I think betray some real common sense, conservative beliefs. For example, Mr. Leno's question about Congress passing a law to tax certain individuals they do not like is clearly directed at an obvious abuse of power. Also, Mr. Leno quipped about the country being 1 trillion dollars in debt, but the funny thing was that Pres. Obama did not even blink at that comment. Incidentally, Pres. Obama did not really respond to Mr. Leno's concern about Congress abusing the tax power. Maybe he intends to sign the bill from Congress.

Waiting to Strike Socialism

The interesting thing to me is that it took me a minute to find this story today. I did not see it prominently displayed among my usual news sources, although I did see that Pres. Obama will be appearing on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight. Pres. Obama has announced his socialist ideals in that he wants the government to "seize troubled companies," as the Associated Press describes it. I guess Pres. Obama has decided that the outrage over the AIG bonuses is the right time to declare that the government can run these companies better, despite the fact that the government has not demonstrated the ability to run the government.

Pres. Obama's Bracket

The Associated Press reports on Pres. Obama's picks for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, including the indication that the POTUS will likely be watching a lot of the tournament. I have to admit that at first this article irritated me. What is the President doing picking a bracket and watching the tournament in the depths of an economic crisis? Then I realized that I was not upset that the President was watching the tournament, partly because I hope to be able to do some of the same myself, but I was upset about the incredible bias of the media. Pres. Obama makes bracket picks and it is a fun piece. If this had been Pres. Bush, the media would have savaged him for not working on the current crisis, for being lazy, and my personal favorite, for being stupid. I will have to root for someone other than North Carolina because I do not want to see the headlines that claim the Tarheels were inspired to win the tournament based on Pres. Obama's confidence in them.

Sad But True

Dwayne Horner writes a great article that expresses an idea I have been trying to articulate for a while. Hat tip to Mr. Horner for getting it done, and done well. The point is simple but sad. We as a people are all too willing to give up our freedoms, or exchange our personal responsibilities, for more government and the promise that the government will take care of us. We simply want to out-source management of our lives to something or someone else. And there are those individuals who are all too willing to accept (and abuse) the power given to them. I am not much for doomsayers and Chicken Littles, but I will say that I think we need to really clean house in government. What could possibly be so bad about throwing out every politician we currently have and starting over with someone new and different? The established corruption simply runs too deep. Both parties practice it and they protect each other in practicing it. The bottom line is that I am sick of both Republicans and Democrats. I want government to leave me alone, or at least be reigned back in to the level of power intended by the Founders.

I was very pleased to see this article by Nathan Tabor because at least someone in Washington is still praying. I really appreciated the reference to Abraham Lincoln and the "sweet comfort" that Pres. Lincoln received upon realizing that God was mindful and involved. For all the comparisons between Pres. Obama and Pres. Lincoln that are being made, a penchant for prayer is one I have not read.

This article by Lorie Byrd provides a great summary of Pres. Obama's "accomplishments" thus far in office. I do think that history will show that Pres. Obama had one of the worst starts as president in the history of this great nation. I am not sure why I see any headlines right now with respect to Pres. Obama that do not mention the economy. The economy simply has to be Pres. Obama's focus right now, yet I seem to see him trying to accomplish everything at once.

Government Solutions

This article in today's Wall Street Journal demonstrates what happens when Congress tries to "fix" the problem of toxins in children's items. Remember, now Congress and Pres. Obama want to "fix" the health care industry.

More Politics of Fear

I do not understand why Pres. Obama would need to "fix" the health care system right now. (HT: Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar) The Obama administration has demonstrated absolutely no ability to fix anything, in fact, just the opposite. (HT: Hugh Hewitt) I would agree with Hugh Hewitt that if Congress can pass one simple law like CPSIA, the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act, and blindly walk into the sea of unintended consequences that resulted, how quickly and extensively could Congress destroy the health care industry in this country? And why would Pres. Obama need to do this now? Could it be that Pres. Obama already feels his political capital slipping away?

The Emperor Has No Clothes

This is a great article by Michael Medved talking about the contradictions in recent polls. Everyone thinks Pres. Obama is a great man and do not want to criticize him personally, but few people really agree he is leading the country in the right direction. It is very interesting to see this and I hope the confusion leaves soon. I dare say it will, but still not soon enough.

There Is No Recession

I do not believe there is a recession, and we are certainly not getting close to a Great Depression. I do not believe we have serious economic difficulties because I do not want to believe that our Congress, from top to bottom, would push through so many earmarks and payouts not related to stimulus at a time when the economy was in trouble. I read stories about the amazing amount of earmarks in Congress' latest bill here and here, and how Pres. Obama is going to break a campaign promise and sign a bill full of earmarks, and I just cannot believe that Congress would be so incredibly irresponsible in the midst of a crisis. This is like kicking us when we are down. This is like a professional team running up the score on a JV high school team.

Now that I think about it, I can believe that Congress would do such a thing. Congress is full of a bunch of self-important entitlement idiots (minus a few notable exceptions like Sen. Feingold and Sen. McCain as mentioned in the news reports). I think there is one clear answer: any member of Congress, or the Obama administration, that would insert an earmark into a "stimulus" bill at a time of economic crisis should lose their job as a representative of the people at the very first opportunity. They should be impeached or otherwise removed, or they should be voted out of office. Of course, I will believe that people are actually concerned about this enough to vote them out of office when I see that happen. I will not be holding my breath.

Must Read

John Hinderaker at PowerLine has posted an amazing article that should be read by everyone concerned at all about Pres. Obama's current budget, including the two people who read this blog. (HT: Hugh Hewitt) This is truly an example of fantastic analysis and reporting. This is the kind of writing that makes it clear why it is hard to argue with facts. Not to mention, it clearly exposes the incredible bias the mainstream media has for Pres. Obama. The facts simply support no other conclusion.