THE RIGHT EAR AND THEN THE LEFT

You have heard that Barack Obama is gifted as a public speaker. If you have watched him closely when he speaks to a crowd in a room, you have seen his desperate dependence on teleprompters. His custom is to show us his right ear and then his left, then the right ear and then the left. Do you suppose his live audience is actually sitting on extreme sides of the room? That leaves a lot of space for us television viewers in the middle, doesn’t it? But he never looks at us!

When he gives his “State of the Union” addresses, of course, he does so without the live audience before him. He uses one teleprompter and looks up at the camera—at us, in other words. His face is almost always without emotion during any of these speeches, unlike other presidents some of whom have been known to shed tears—and don’t think for a minute it is unmanly to cry—tears are what hearts are made of. It is doubtful that Obama has any tears; he often seems to prefer crunching his lips together in a tense memorable pose.

If he would include us—the middle of the room—perhaps he could rest his neck a little, for we can see both ears without his turning his head. ♥