President to try to stop using Teleprompter

[Husker_x]

Everyone already knows Obama's not nearly as good off a teleprompter as he is on it. But fetishizing gaffes is in part what has degraded our politics.

 

Here's the reality: all presidents are human; Barack Obama is a president; therefore, Barack Obama is human. As a human he is not only certain but entitled to make his share of mistakes. Being the president is a mind-numbingly exhausting job filled with ungodly complexities from the minute you get up in the morning until the minute you go to bed. Somewhere between talking with brain surgeon military officials over breakfast and rocket scientist economists over lunch, an aid whispers in your ear that it's time for a press briefing,where about half of the attendees are there for no other purpose than to take whatever you say out of context and make you look like a jackass.

 

When Romney said "I don't care about the very poor" a few months ago, that's obviously not what he meant, and not the entirety of what he said, but I'm willing to bet if you watched cable news that's about all you heard. While Romney is affluent and obviously has no personal experience with poverty, how many Americans--or people on this board, for that matter--are sitting at their computers shedding tears over inner city poverty? Does that mean you don't care about the poor?

 

The media fixation on these things is a direct result of political tribalism and a complete unwillingness for people to consider, or even try to consider, the actual point the person was making. It reduces our politics to a silly little game where no one actually bothers to address any real issues. We just wait to beat off every time the other guy slips up.

[sd'sker]

 

Yikes, did I say that?

 

You are right for the most part...so, please put this in the proper context: "I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

someone has a case of the 'pc police' over here.

 

Ridiculing the mentally impaired (retarded, if you will) has been in very, very poor taste since well before "pc" came into common usage. Hearing Barack Obama say what he did made me cringe, and I am not prone to cringeing.

you are right. he needed to be more sensitive, he must not have been taught critical thinking in school.

[Yossarian]

 

Yikes, did I say that?

 

You are right for the most part...so, please put this in the proper context: "I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

someone has a case of the 'pc police' over here.

 

Ridiculing the mentally impaired (retarded, if you will) has been in very, very poor taste since well before "pc" came into common usage. Hearing Barack Obama say what he did made me cringe, and I am not prone to cringeing.

you are right. he needed to be more sensitive, he must not have been taught critical thinking in school.

 

I still find this to be offensive even when you make jest of it.

[sd'sker]

 

Yikes, did I say that?

 

You are right for the most part...so, please put this in the proper context: "I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics, or something."

someone has a case of the 'pc police' over here.

 

Ridiculing the mentally impaired (retarded, if you will) has been in very, very poor taste since well before "pc" came into common usage. Hearing Barack Obama say what he did made me cringe, and I am not prone to cringeing.

you are right. he needed to be more sensitive, he must not have been taught critical thinking in school.

 

I still find this to be offensive even when you make jest of it.

ok.

[zoogs]

Everyone already knows Obama's not nearly as good off a teleprompter as he is on it. But fetishizing gaffes is in part what has degraded our politics.

 

Here's the reality: all presidents are human; Barack Obama is a president; therefore, Barack Obama is human. As a human he is not only certain but entitled to make his share of mistakes. Being the president is a mind-numbingly exhausting job filled with ungodly complexities from the minute you get up in the morning until the minute you go to bed. Somewhere between talking with brain surgeon military officials over breakfast and rocket scientist economists over lunch, an aid whispers in your ear that it's time for a press briefing,where about half of the attendees are there for no other purpose than to take whatever you say out of context and make you look like a jackass.

 

When Romney said "I don't care about the very poor" a few months ago, that's obviously not what he meant, and not the entirety of what he said, but I'm willing to bet if you watched cable news that's about all you heard. While Romney is affluent and obviously has no personal experience with poverty, how many Americans--or people on this board, for that matter--are sitting at their computers shedding tears over inner city poverty? Does that mean you don't care about the poor?

 

The media fixation on these things is a direct result of political tribalism and a complete unwillingness for people to consider, or even try to consider, the actual point the person was making. It reduces our politics to a silly little game where no one actually bothers to address any real issues. We just wait to beat off every time the other guy slips up.

 

+1.