“My remarks are not sitting here,” the President declared awkwardly. “I’m uhhh….people….oh goodness….uhhhh...folks are sweating back there right now.”
President Obama is often mocked (even on this blog, if you can imagine such a thing) for an over-reliance on scripts. He shifted uncomfortably trying to buy time. An aide sprinted out with a hard copy of the speech, tripping at one point, just to make it all seem more professional.
You can watch the whole thing here.
21 comments:
You, are ridiculous.
Every public speaker since writing was invented has relied on everything from loose bullet points to a full script to give speeches where they wanted to make a point.
Name me 1 person, EVER, who stood in front of a crowd and just said whatever spilled out of their mouth.
Every public speaker has a script and it doesn't matter whether it's on a pocket full of index cards, a legal pad or a teleprompter.
That would be me. I taught for years without notes. When did you ever see a teacher or a professor reading from a teleprompter?
XO: Me.
LR: You, too.
XO: That's two. You only asked for one.
I know my speech before I speak or I don't speak.
Not a bad idea for the Prez...the don't speak part.
XO: But just for fun, let's pretend that every speaker in the universe uses notes, outlines or scripts.
We're talking here about the professionalism and leadership of President BO (the amateur president). He obviously did not do a once-over before stepping out on the platform, as a professional would do. Else he would have been sure to have his speech in hand.
An actor would do it the way he did. A professional would not.
Joe - Tsk tsk. BO (our amateur president) got caught without his remarks. He handled it pretty well in spite of the embarrassing moment. Heads will roll later - I imagine. As if he didn't already have enough problems. :]
sh: As a rank amateur, who has only spoken before some two or three hundred audiences in my lifetime, I would have slipped a note to one of my helpers and then engaged the audience in discussion or had a few good jokes up my sleeve to share until the speech arrived.
He seemed reluctant to engage the audience. I wonder why?
He doesn't seem to know how to tell jokes, only to belittle others in a "comical" way.
But he's the professional.
Obama is a farce. He is a Manchurian candidate and nothing more.
I have done public speaking hundreds of times, on various subjects - including sermons. There were times I forgot my outline (I never had a full text of what to speak) but knew my subject well enough to continue without it. That's the problem with Obamanation - he doesn't know what he is talking about, and has to have some one else tell him what to say!
Yeah, I've also taught lots of classes without notes except for points to help me cover everything.
I have done public speaking with fairly large audiences (sometimes about 300) when I used to do what they called "Operation Raincheck" - as well as same talks not under that program but doing the same thing. That is where as a controller I would spend two hours talking to pilots about ATC procedures, FAA regs, and so forth. If you didn't know your topic cold, you were in trouble!
I didn't have 100 talks a year - that's a lot! There have been times when I have done half that amount back in my Chicago area days. But I have also been an instructor in many, many venues, and if you don't know your topic and stutter and stammer, no one will give you any credibility.
I still do some classroom teaching here and there, very infrequently. Since I retired I left most of my public speaking and teaching behind. However, I still perform before large audiences and will have Q&A sessions following presentations - and never have a script.
I guess people like you and me just aren't good enough to be president, because then we'd have to rely on a teleprompter and someone else telling us what to say.
GEC: (a slight calculator button error has led me to re-write this comment)
I've done 50+ speeches (read: sermons, public speaking, special events)and taught about 100 classes per year for over 53 years. Let's see, 150 X 53 = 7,950 in my lifetime, so far.
That doesn't even begin to count the number of choir specials I've led. Because I know the music cold, every vocal and instrumental part, I rarely reference the printed music except to make sure I'm on the right page at the right time.
I sometimes, when speaking, use a list of the sequence I want to follow by topic, but if one knows his field, the presentation is pretty easy.
I have no fear of audiences. I have engaged many in group conversation about controversial and common topics without fear.
That's because I am confident of my topic and proud of my work.
I'm not certain what XO's field is, but it clearly isn't public speaking. It's not Obama's either.
GEC: I have preached all but a few Sundays every year, morning and evening, led choirs, taught Bible study classes, made presentations at Kiwanis, Rotary, county boards of commission, and at public schools.
If that seems like bragging, I don't mean it that way. For XO's sake, I guess I could pretend that I've never done it before, but why?
I still teach every week, lead choir rehearsal every week, conduct a special every week and preach every time I get the chance.
I conduct three or four seminars a year and have taught at our Baptist Assemblies at Lake Yale and Ridgecrest.
I'm starting to get the hang of it.
Joe,
You are a busy guy!
I was an ATC classroom instructor for 25 of my 30 years as a controller. Of course that was a secondary duty to my controlling duties, but I was the designated classroom instructor for every new controller. I even wrote the training program for my previous facility prior to the FAA producing a standard outline which we just modified. My last 18 months of employment was as an instructor. In these classes I never had more than 10 at one time, so it isn't a large audience, but you still have to know your material cold. The large audiences were, as noted, the huge pilot meetings.
Outside of the work environment, I was a classroom instructor in the Civil Air Patrol for cadets (I was the Aerospace Education Officer) and had weekly classes for almost 10 years before I left the CAP, and classroom size varied from 20-50. Church sermons were for audiences of only about 100 (small church), while I taught many adult Sunday School classes with as many as 30 people.
The largest audiences I speak to are when doing performances. Aside from being with a band performing in front of hundreds - sometimes thousands - of people, my family of four performed many times each year at many venues (me piping, wife and daughter dancing, son drummer). I had to explain history of piping and dancing to huge audiences at festivals, fairs, schools, etc. I admit looking out over a huge crowd can be daunting, but as long as you know what you are talking about, they will listen. The huge auditoriums on college campuses, where you are on a stage and can't see the hundreds of people you are talking to (they are in the dark with you in the spotlight) can be very intimidating, but you still shouldn't need someone else writing what you have to say!
XO and his ilk will mock President Ford for his stumbling and almost falling, but they will listen enraptured to a guy who has no idea what to say without a teleprompter.
I have to admit that the first few times I had to stand in front of an audience to teach or speak, I was nervous. But then you get the idea that they are expecting you to know what you are talking about, so you make sure not to disappoint them!
GEC: Oh, and I work a 40 hour week so I can do those things.
Actually, Geo Bush, as inarticulate as he usually was on teleprompter, spoke amazingly well and glibly off notes. Even libs I know have admitted that.
sue hanes..you're right. I was thinking he wasn't quite that jocular when he got behind the scenes with his handlers!
Joe, I have to admit that the pres does have a certain speech he has to deliver and perhaps talking points are in there he needs to give, so not having those notes is more catastrophic to him than it might be to you or me as we give a speech.
While I wish he was a president I could admire and respect (trust me..!) I can't get my knickers in too much of a twist over this.
I imagine you'd have preferred he just mentioned to his staff "I need my notes, please.." and then started talking on point until they made it to him...you're right if you feel that way.
BUT, someone asked a question in the audience, remember?...and he could have answered it before the notes reached him..instead, he deflected. not good.
Z: No one would accuse George Bush of being an eloquent speaker, that's for sure. But Obama was proclaimed by his voters, his people and himself to be a great speaker. They had never noticed the Teleprompters.
Again, you people are ridiculous.
Are you seriously trying to say that talking to a hotel conference room of Air Traffic Control Union Members or a Sunday School class is the same as the President of the United States, the Leader of the Free World, making a speech?
Your entirely insignificant little ATC conferences or choir practices didn't have every member of the news media on the face of the planet scrutinizing every single word you said or didn't say.
You don't need a teleprompter because nothing that you say matters. It isn't important so it doesn't matter if it's right or wrong. Every single word Obama speaks makes news and can affect worldwide economics and politics.
You can spew whatever goonbabble you want in church basements and it doesn't affect anything at all.
If you know your subject matter and you care about it, and you are engaged, you don't need to depend on notes. This is just more proof that Obama is totally disengaged. He's a sock puppet, who knows just enough to get by.
XO: You have proven beyond any shadow of a doubt by any person with more than two brain cells that you do not know what you are talking about. You don't even read what I've said. You just pick a few words here and there, draw a conclusion and spew it out.
It is a constant pattern with you.
X.O.
You are being a jackass. I noted that I have been in front of an audience of a couple thousand.
The point is, no matter who is watching (and I've had my face in the new - including TV - more times than you'll ever be), no matter how big or small your audience, no matter what the topic, one must know what he is talking about to his audience or he gets no respect. One must do his OWN writing, and not need to have a stupid screen to tell them what to say, and should not lose their composure.
You are a hard core Obamanite and would defend him no matter how heinous and stupid his behavior is. You'd support Adolf Hitler himself!
For his next trick, Chats will name the last president to write his own speeches.
XO, you got Chas to play the Hitler card.
Obama (Some)
Clinton (Almost all)
Wilson (All)
George Washington (Most)
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