RSS Feed MenuA blogger at HuffPo worries that Sarah Palin has brilliantly suckered the Obama White House into enhancing her credibility.
Addressing the Tea Party, Sarah Palin wrote three notes on her hand: “Energy, Taxes, Lift American Spirits.” Why? She already had notes in front of her on the podium. Surely she could remember three simple themes. Why write notes on her hand?
Here’s my take on why: she knew that they would be visible when she gave the speech. And she knew that she would be made fun of — as so stupid that she needs to write notes on her hand. And that’s one of her most effective tactics — to be made fun of. It’s an integral part of her strategy of standing in for hardworking, Middle Americans, derided by the condescending, know-it-all liberal elites.
So what does the Obama administration do? Press Secretary Robert Gibbs had a great idea: he made fun of her. He wrote a grocery list on his hand at a White House briefing, and belittled Palin for not being able to remember her message. Thus the White House became a vehicle for Palin’s narrative of the snooty elites who think they’re better than average Americans.
… Sarah Palin is playing chess. I don’t know what game the Administration is playing, but they just walked right into her carefully laid trap. Palin, the strategist, is amazing to watch. Her brilliance is her ability to tap in to the class conflicts that drive American politics these days. Obama, whom I have supported since Iowa, just doesn’t get it.
Julian Sanchez and Andrew Sullivan concur on the cleverness of Palin and the cluelessness of the Obama administration. Except … all this presupposes that the Obama administration wants Sarah Palin to go away. It does not!
Palin is Obama’s preferred opponent. What is good for Palin is good for Obama. Of course the White House builds her up, of course it seems to play into Palin’s ink-stained hands! The White House is counting on those hands to deliver them in turn an easy romp to re-election.
Wetcoast // Feb 12, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Sarah Palin writes a few crib notes on her hand and the consensus is it implies a level of idiocy …
Meanwhile, President Obama requires a teleprompter to speak to a grade six class and gets a pass.
Given what has transpired this past year … could Sarah Palin have done any worse than has Preisdent Obama?
CentristNYer // Feb 12, 2010 at 12:15 pm
VA Shepherd // Feb 12, 2010 at 12:02 pm
“Making a conservative comment at Frum Forum is like kicking an anthill”
Your remarks were shrill (“The Marxist-Leninists in Washington”), your tone was snarky (“there’s your opening, trolls!”) and your defense of Palin was lame. If this is what passes for “conservative comment” now, the movement is officially dead.
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 1:01 pm
Centrist – you’ve got that right. One could rightfully argue that throwing around the term “Marxist-Leninists” is the trolling – as is the substanceless call for response.
And the continued “teleprompter” meme is ridiculous, of course. The fact is, I really don’t expect any President to be able to recite every speech by memory – they have a lot of other things to worry about, and the teleprompter is a useful device particularly when any speech is going to be televised. Reagan used them … Bush used them … Palin uses them.
I do care if a politician can actually express a coherent philosophy when the teleprompter is turned off, and questions are asked directly to them.
On this count, I’d give Reagan a 10 for much of his political career (it slipped drastically during his “I can’t remember” phase at the end of his Presidency) – even if I didn’t like much of his philosophy. I give Obama a 10.
I’d give Bush a 5, given his tendency to lapse into blustering platitudes when questioned, and to go into circle speak that often avoided the question.
I’d give Palin a 2. Her answers when questioned off the teleprompter border on absolute incoherence. She clearly doesn’t seem to realize how ignorant she is on some subjects … and when she does realize it she doesn’t seem to understand why people would care if she has an informed opinion. The only way to score lower would be to be so incoherent that even her most die-hard supporters couldn’t hear her dog whistles. Obviously, however, they can.
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 1:13 pm
anniemargret (always good for a chuckle) says.”
“Can anyone imagine Mitt Romney or Hillary Clinton writing crib notes on their hand? They’d be laughed out of Dodge. ”
I don’t think I could have imagined the President of the USA needing two teleprompters to speak in a 6th grade classroom, either, until I saw the picture on the internet.
As for Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton being laughed out of Dodge: that already happened. It was in 2008.
bleyle23 // Feb 12, 2010 at 1:43 pm
“until I saw the picture on the internet.”
Excellent research. How can you expect your comments to be taken with any credibility when you expose yourself to this superficial drivel.
Either you know the truth and conceal it in order to perpetuate a false meme or you don’t bother to be informed because it might just expose the fallacy itself.
CentristNYer // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:07 pm
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 1:01 pm
“And the continued “teleprompter” meme is ridiculous, of course.”
The fact that it’s so oft repeated betrays the complete bankruptcy of ideas of his right wing opponents — especially in light of how they gave Palin a pass for having to scrawl her core values on her hand so that she wouldn’t forget them.
Modern conservativism has totally gone off the rails.
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:11 pm
bleyle23, is it not true that Obama had set up two teleprompters for the speech in the 6th grade classroom?
CentristNYer, has Obama stopped using teleprompters when he speaks?
CentristNYer // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:11 pm
“CentristNYer, has Obama stopped using teleprompters when he speaks?”
You’re completely missing the point. I think balconesfault addresses this perfectly above:
“The fact is, I really don’t expect any President to be able to recite every speech by memory – they have a lot of other things to worry about, and the teleprompter is a useful device particularly when any speech is going to be televised. Reagan used them … Bush used them … Palin uses them.
“I do care if a politician can actually express a coherent philosophy when the teleprompter is turned off, and questions are asked directly to them.”
Obama has proved repeatedly — most recently in his very successful meeting with Republican leaders — that he can do this. (Palin, by contrast, is a lost soul who can’t get past her FoxNews talking points about freedom, tax cuts and drill, baby, drill.)
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Churl: bleyle23, is it not true that Obama had set up two teleprompters for the speech in the 6th grade classroom?
It is not true that Obama had set up teleprompters to speak to the school kids. Here’s a picture of his Q&A session with them.
Obama did use teleprompters when they moved to a different classroom to make a televised address to reporters about expanding his Race to the Top program to improve schools.
Do you now understand? Everyone who has been making the claim that he used teleprompters to talk with 6th grade children … is lying.
And now that you’re informed (we’ll presume you were just ignorant before) if you repeat this canard … you will be lying.
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Damn – the correct second hyperlink was:
http://o.aolcdn.com/photo-hub/news_gallery/6/4/646457/1264430322987.JPEG
jackolantern // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:35 pm
I think Frum is spot-on on this matter. Palin is a public phenom, bluntly, and honestly, only because she’s kinda hot, ergo, she has public appeal to a certain segment of the population, but she’s too obviously an idiot, everyone kows it, even the idiots that like her…they like her because she’s a fellow idiot. There may be people behind her who express some modicum of a political strategy, but I feel that trying to elect her to any national office would be like trying to skip a perfectly round sstone across a flat lake. How can you criticize the POTUS for using a teleprompter, when you know any modern President will use one regardless, and when you’re writing notes on your hand like someone in 10th grade. I’ve never seen anyone over the age of 18 with notes written on their hand like that. Come on now, lets nominate somebody in 2012 who can atleast compete with the President. Can you imagine a debate between Obama and Palin? It would be like Tyson vs. Spinx. What’s so wrong with Romney? I don’t particularly adore him, and I know he’s a shifty politician, but I believe he’ll stand up for business and the principles of free enterprise, which is mostly what I care about. Forget about Palin, she’s a freak accident of political stardom because McCain(or whoever) picked her in desperation. I wish the media would just ignore her…fat chance.
LFC // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:39 pm
VA Shepherd said… Making a conservative comment at Frum Forum is like kicking an anthill…
I don’t think that’s true. You’re just confused about the difference between a conservative and a Republican, two things that used to be fairly close but have been diverging for the past decade.
I would have loved to hear what William F. Buckley would have had to say about Sarah Palin.
jdipeso // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Sarah Palin isn’t dumb. She’s just a quitter. She was given a public trust and walked away from it, for no damn good reason.
LFC // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Think about it. The 2012 election season will come. Palin probably won’t win the nomination, but she’ll have lots to say before and during. As will Limbaugh. And Beck. And Hannity. And Gingrich.
Obama gets to run against all of them at once by putting the GOP nominee on the spot. He can demand that they repudiate the ugliest remarks, of which there will be plenty. We all saw how well THAT went by the long line of Republicans forced to go back and apologize to Limbaugh on bended knee. The GOP nominee can either disagree with Palin over and over again (pissing off the hard right wingnuts) or they can agree with her (scaring the crap out of the independents).
It’s going to be very interesting to see how the GOP candidate will run. I can tell you this. If the 1980 model of Ronald Reagan tried stepping in to that spot in 2012, he’d be out on his ass in the blink of an eye.
LFC // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:48 pm
jdipeso said… She was given a public trust and walked away from it, for no damn good reason.
Not true. She said she quit because she was ineffective. I actually believe that was quite true for her entire political career (recall the debt she left behind in Wasilla). In fact, admitting that she was ineffective was one of the few true things she’s ever said.
bleyle23 // Feb 12, 2010 at 2:58 pm
“Do you now understand? Everyone who has been making the claim that he used teleprompters to talk with 6th grade children … is lying.
And now that you’re informed (we’ll presume you were just ignorant before) if you repeat this canard … you will be lying.”
Thanks for the quick work balconesfault.
I’m eagerly awaiting Churl’s retraction.
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I just checked – and Snopes.com is already all over this:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/photos/6thgrade.asp
And for the record, Snopes is extraordinarily bipartisan. Always worth checking before you believe any claim about any politician.
Arctos // Feb 12, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Thank you, balconesfault, for the links to the pictures. This blogger below posted a collection of Palin photographs showing serial teleprompter use, including my favorite, a video of her using it to deliver her “I quit but I’m not really quitting because then I’d look like a quitter” speech. At the time, I was shocked that she was using a teleprompter only because I couldn’t believe she had actually written out her incoherent comments beforehand.
http://www.pensitoreview.com/2010/02/11/exposed-photos-show-palin-to-be-a-serial-teleprompter-user/
I agree that the point is not the use of teleprompters, but rather the stupidity of the criticism and her lack of anything substantial to say. As an Alaskan, I’m convinced she quit because although she liked being governor, she disliked governing. Her performance as governor after her return from The Big Show barely rose to the level of “disinterested.” She went out of her way to engage in pointless pissing matches with our Legislature over issues that made it clear she was positioning herself to build on her national persona (see: stimulus fund lies). It was an incredible relief when she quit and took her drama queen act with her.
The emails recently released from the State of Alaska to MSNBC (except for the ones redacted because Todd had executive privilege, apparently) are proving just how ridiculous her tenure was as governor. As shameful as her resignation was, she was right: Alaska is much better off without her.
Sadly, our gain is America’s loss.
Demosthenes // Feb 12, 2010 at 3:41 pm
It never fails to amaze me the howls of criticism for Pres. Obama using a teleprompter. (Yes, balconesfault, I mean you). Yes, he makes extensive, and effective, use of one. So, too, did Pres. Reagan, Pres. Clinton, and Pres. George W. Bush. I thought all three of these presidents effectively used the teleprompter. Who cares? The more important thing is whether the particular president is doing a good job or capable of thinking on his feet. I leave it to posterity to judge all of these presidents (although I do have great regard for Pres. Reagan, in particular, and considerable distain for George W. Bush). We now know (after his thrashing of the Republican congressmen last week), that Pres. Obama can think on his feet. So the stupid use of teleprompter cracks needs to stop.
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Not to go all Noam Chomsky, but I carefully didn’t say that Obama used the teleprompters to talk to the 6th graders. I said he used them to give a speech in a 6th grade classroom. The televised address to the press, I took to be a speech.
I just like to stir up Obams’s acolytes, and nothing gets them going like a crack about the President’s teleprompter dependency.
If writing some catch phrases on your hand as an aide memoire for a speech is a sign of stupidity, what does Obama’s perpetual reading from teleprompters indicate?
balconesfault // Feb 12, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I just like to stir up Obams’s acolytes, and nothing gets them going like a crack about the President’s teleprompter dependency.
Ahh – who is playing the internet troll here?
If writing some catch phrases on your hand as an aide memoire for a speech is a sign of stupidity, what does Obama’s perpetual reading from teleprompters indicate?
It’s what she wrote … which one would assume are her core principles. Again, it’s like MLK having “civil rights” written on his hand … or Reagan having “Communism bad” written on his hand.
Obama’s perpetual reading from teleprompters when making addresses – which is pretty much what every President has done in recent years when making addresses – shows that he is a cautious man. He takes the job of President very seriously, and he takes the responsibility of being the first black President very seriously.
What is curious is how after years of Reagan and Bush and Clinton and Bush all heavily relying on teleprompters … suddenly Obama becomes President and it becomes a sign of something. Let’s see … how is Obama different from the previous 4?
CentristNYer // Feb 12, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 3:59 pm
“If writing some catch phrases on your hand as an aide memoire for a speech is a sign of stupidity, what does Obama’s perpetual reading from teleprompters indicate?”
Again, these weren’t “catch phrases,” these were her CORE PRINCIPLES. Get it? These weren’t obscure statistics that she wanted to keep handy. She had to write down the four ideas that were MOST IMPORTANT to her. That’s how little she grasps this stuff. (And to have done so only minutes after taking another swipe at Obama’s teleprompter use makes her look even stupider.)
As for Obama’s teleprompter “dependency,” I think he put that myth to bed when he roundly spanked the Republicans.
MikeMc // Feb 12, 2010 at 5:03 pm
“…what does Obama’s perpetual reading from teleprompters indicate?”
I think it means he doesn’t have the time nor the inclination to memorize long speeches.
What do you think it means?
Churl // Feb 12, 2010 at 5:49 pm
balconesfault, I suppose that my applying stimuli and noting leftist responses could be considered trolling. But, honestly, the furor over Palin’s palm scribbles and the, shall we say vigorous, reactions to cracks about Obama’s teleprompter do indicate that certain nerves have been touched.
I’m most interested in the studying the nerves.
LFC // Feb 12, 2010 at 6:07 pm
Churl said… Not to go all Noam Chomsky, but I carefully didn’t say that Obama used the teleprompters to talk to the 6th graders. I said he used them to give a speech in a 6th grade classroom.
Oh, OK. I see we now all agree that you said something of zero importance. Now we just have to wonder why you even bothered to say it.
But, honestly, the furor over Palin’s palm scribbles and the, shall we say vigorous, reactions to cracks about Obama’s teleprompter do indicate that certain nerves have been touched.
You still don’t understand the multiple explanations of Palin needing to write down her core principals to remember them vs. Obama performing standard speech giving? Wow. That’s just … pathetic.