Barack Obama, the Teleprompter President

During the past few weeks, people have begun to notice that Barack Obama takes a teleprompter with him almost every where. Bizarrely, Chairman Obama uses his teleprompter in even some of the smallest and most informal situations. If you are wondering why Obama is so dedicated to his teleprompter, all you have to do is look at what happens when Obama speaks without one.

Chairman Obama has made some embarrassing errors when speaking off-the-cuff. John McCormick of the Chicago Tribune has written an article about some of these off-script faux pas. Some of the most interesting Barack Obama gaffes are:

• his joke comparing his bowling skills to the Special Olympics
• his "séance" comment about Nancy Reagan
• his "clinging to guns and religion" comment
• the comment about his grandmother being afraid of Black people "like a typical White person"

Obama Has Learned Nothing from Jesse Ventura

Are you as stunned as I am that Obama would have the Democratic nomination almost in the bag and then--on a silver platter--hand Hillary such a delicious soundbite about bitter small town Americans clinging to guns and religion? He might have been okay if he had omitted the word "religion," but he just had to say it and alienate 1/2 of Pennsylvania and 3/4 of North Carolina. Either Obama has a fear of success, or he forgot what happened to Jesse Ventura when he called religious believers weak-minded.

Obama has done an abysmal job on damage control during the last couple of days, and Hillary is managing to turn his mistake into a strong (but completely dishonest) campaign message. If this story does not go away in the next few days, Hillary might be able to have a voter surge, gain some extra delegates, stay in the race, and almost guarantee a deadlocked convention. If that happens, the 2008 Democratic Convention is going to be the most exciting political event in a long, long time. This could be the big debacle that splits the party.