Political Communication blog

This incident was mentioned in class today, but I hadn't heard of it before. I just happened upon this account, and it sounds like it was a case of one of his impromptu jokes, and not his misreading the teleprompter. I've noticed Obama making these kind of witty one-liners somewhat often, and I think it's a part of his character that more will come to appreciate. A little laughter doesn't hurt anyone.

The truth about Barack Obama's Irish teleprompter "gaffe"

The most authoritative account I can find was from pool reporter William Englund of National Journal. His pool report stated:

"Then it was Cowen's turn, and he was in for a surprise. 'We begin by welcoming today a strong friend of the United States,' he said--then stopped in surprise as he realized he was reading President Obama's speech off the teleprompter. 'Why don't these things work for me?' he asked, as the crowd roared. 'Thank you for having us. Who said these things were idiot-proof?' Then he got his bearings and gave the same talk that he delivered in the East Room. When he ended, at 8:12, Obama stepped to the microphone and said, 'First, I'd like to say thank you to President Obama...(much laughter). Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everybody.' Then we were escorted out."

That was pretty clear: there was a teleprompter mix up and the fall guy was Cowen. Obama stepped in after Cowen's five-minute speech to make a good-natured and well-received joke at the Irish premier's expense.

Ironically, therefore, Obama was ad-libbing rather than mindlessly reading the wrong speech from a teleprompter.

I've exchanged emails with Englund and he confirmed this was the case and kindly supplied me with an audio file of the event that removes all doubt.

Add it to the set with "you're likable enough, Hillary" and more recently "like the Special Olympics" (which I contend is being misconstrued - he didn't say he bowled like the Special Olympics, he was reacting to Jay Leno verbally "patting him on the head" and telling him he did good. Some say that's just as bad, but I don't think so.)