Obama more skilled speaking ex-tempore, than using teleprompter

Washington, Feb.25 (ANI): Even as President Barack Obama delivered his first address to a joint session of the US Congress, a debate has surfaced over his speaking skills.

While some admire Obama's ex-tempore speaking skills, there are others who mock and say that he is only comfortable with teleprompters.

From the 2004 Democratic convention speech that launched him onto the national stage to his acceptance of his party's nomination four years later, Obama's public speaking skills have been considered one of his strongest assets.

But while the president's ability is admired-and at least one Web site promises to teach it to you-Obama also is mocked by critics who say he's only comfortable with teleprompters.

One Web site has compiled clips of him stumbling verbally without them. For example: "And if they just gave him treatment early, and, uh, they got some treatment," he misspoke at a campaign stop.

His predecessor, President Bush, used a teleprompter less often and paid the price for his verbal gaffes.

Experts say every president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has had a different style of communicating through technology with the American people, and in challenging times the impossible often is asked of them.

"The bully pulpit is critical but it also doesn't change the reality," the Washington Post quoted Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, as saying.

Obama's inaugural address, delivered with a teleprompter, was not considered his most moving speech. But two weeks later, without a prompter, he made an impassioned push for his stimulus plan at a retreat held by congressional Democrats. (ANI)