The Rise of the Teleprompter!
It seems like with the election of Barack Obama, the teleprompter has officially gone mainstream. In the past, part of the "mystique" about teleprompters (and cue cards before that) was that they were never acknowledged. The crew in charge of them, the guy reading from them, and even the public living in blissful ignorance never even acknowledged that a teleprompter was there. It was a tool that was pushed into the background and ignored.
When President Obama came into office, he made no attempt to hide the fact that at every press conference and practically any other sort of public appearance that he was using a teleprompter. Not only was it obvious from the way in which he was speaking, there have even been instances when he referenced the teleprompter in his speeches - such as the time at The National Academy of Science when the teleprompter's text moved too fast for him. The President simply stopped his speech and told the teleprompter operator to go back a bit so he could catch up. Sure, he laughed it off a bit, but it was still awkward.
Even First Lady Michelle Obama recently had a teleprompter incident
in San Francisco. While speaking at the National Conference on
Volunteering and Service, Mrs. Obama made a comment about the
teleprompters being too low for her to read. What is a First Lady doing
using a teleprompter? To be sure, Michelle Obama is like no First Lady
that has ever come before; she is a self-made woman through and through
who has never slowed down professionally no matter what happened in her
personal life. So it looks like that even though most First Lady's take
a more passive role in the White House (despite the occasional "pet
project"), Michelle Obama is going to remain in the thick of it as an
active participant in her husband's administration. No matter who you
are or your political leanings, you have to respect a woman and a family
that holds out that sort of example for everyone to see. Clearly,
Michelle and Barack Obama consider each other equals in every way.
Many people, and I am one of them, don't really like Obama's use of the teleprompter. Whether you agreed with President Bush's views or not, chances are you got tired of his "Bushisms" and stumbling around the English language. It seemed like the entire country was ready for a President that had a good grasp of the English language and would proceed to wow us with his speeches. Instead, once he got in office President Obama broke out the teleprompter and let it do all the work. Maybe we just put our expectations too high, who knows?
Regardless, it looks like the teleprompter is here to stay. Just like previous Presidents set precedents for their successors, there's a pretty good chance that President Obama has now made it acceptable for Presidents to read from a teleprompter during speeches. I guess we'll have to wait to find out.
July 18th, 2009