1.5K views Nov 2009
The Onion News Network reports that Obama's home teleprompter fails during family dinner, leaving him to recite scripted remarks about his daughter's allowance from memory.
0:06 And there was a little hiccup yesterday at the White House after President Obama's home teleprompter reportedly malfunctioned during a family dinner. 0:13 Onion News Network Washington correspondent Jane Carmichael joins us now with more. 0:17 Jane, tell us what exactly happened over there. 0:18 Well, Anna, last night, in the middle of a conversation with Malia about raising her allowance, President Obama's home teleprompter suddenly went blank. 0:26 He sort of froze mid-sentence, but 0:28 Mm-hmm. 0:28 after a few seconds of silence, Obama was able to call up his prepared remarks from memory. 0:32 So it didn't differ at all, basically, from the copy of the dinner conversation that had been sent over to reporters beforehand? 0:37 Right, that's right. It was almost verbatim. 0:39 Wow. 0:39 He hit all the points about Malia needing to get at least a B in math and trying to get, uh, onto the soccer team, just in a different order than they were written. 0:46 Well, White House Deputy Press Secretary Brenda England briefly addressed this error today. 0:51 Let's take a look. 0:51 Look, the president has, uh, hundreds of conversations every day, and it simply isn't feasible for him to memorize the text for every single one. 0:57 The prompter is really just a tool to help the president remember to speak, blink, and breathe. 1:01 Mm, yeah. 1:02 And look, Obama is always open about the fact that he works with a team of talented writers on every remark he makes. 1:07 Yeah, absolutely. The prompters just help make sure he doesn't say the wrong thing at any point ever. 1:11 Exactly. He would write his conversations himself, but he's just too busy. 1:15 As he's the president. 1:16 He does make sure, though, to look over and edit any asides or offhand remarks he didn't personally script. 1:21 Of course. You know, Jane, it seems like the president has gotten better at using the teleprompter since the campaign. 1:25 Yes. 1:26 We all remember that horrible pumpkin patch incident before the election, when the wind blew the prompter over in the middle of picking pumpkins with the girls. 1:32 That's right, causing Obama to fumble around awkwardly, drop the pumpkin he was holding, and refer to Sasha as Jennifer. 1:37 And there was the caps lock incident. 1:39 Oh yes, Obama nearly shouted himself hoarse 1:41 Mm. 1:41 over the course of that speech, and there were various mix-ups where teleprompter operators displayed the wrong lines. 1:47 Mm. 1:47 Once it caused him to say, I played a little basketball myself in high school after sampling a piece of Cape Cod saltwater taffy. 1:53 Boy, the GOP had a field day with that one. 1:55 Obama was furious 1:55 Yeah. 1:56 about it. He had his staff put a long, angry rant into the teleprompter for him to scream at them. 2:00 I remember that, but you know, also, uh, uh, Jane, we should point out that Obama's not the first president to use scripted interactions. 2:06 No. 2:06 Ronald Reagan was known for using cue cards, for instance. 2:08 Yes, exactly. Right. And of course, Joe Biden is known for reading his remarks off his arm, where he's written them in magic marker. 2:14 Exactly right. Well, Jane, thank you so much for that report. 2:16 We appreciate it as always. 2:17 Thank you, Honor. 2:18 Far from caving to criticism, the president has increased his reliance on the teleprompter, sending it alone on low priority diplomatic meetings and photo ops. 2:26 Well, right after the break, we'll talk to a Philadelphian who knows all the best places to get murdered. 2:30 places to get murdered. 
1:11
2:50
0:30
14:04
2:47
1:06
1:21
5:56
0:32
0:38
1:38
1:28