A man and his captions

Barack Obama is not a great speaker. He is a great reciter. He can read phrases quite well, and translate said text into pleasing vocalisations, which while technically speaking of a high calibre, does not a great speaker make. Now that the election is long over and the media no longer needs to sell a sheeplike public their politician of choice, out comes the criticism. From Politico:

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual — not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no such luck.

Not that I expect most - if any - politicians to be erudite, but so much reliance on a script smells faintly totalitarian (regardless of intentions). Obama needs to kick the teleprompter habit.