What is so revolutionary about Obama having questions pre-submitted?

It is well known, and unusual, for a president to be so dependent on a teleprompter. Sure, the technology wasn't there for many. However, others had to think on their feet and Barry can't.

Having questions pre-submitted is one thing. Having the answers to everything is different!

He wants to manipulate media events so that the only things that get said are the things he decides will get said.

I wonder whether he needed a TeleprompTer to teach Constitutional Law. If he graduated so well from Harvard Law School he should have a good memory. Unless all the exams are open-book.

He is WAY too dependent on something else to do his thinking for him. And he can't always have a pre-fab answer in many important situations.

It's more than a memory aid. It's like a procedural control he wields.

Anyone who remembers Reagan - even Bill Clinton - will readily see the difference between their ability to speak on an impromptu (or imTeleprompTu) basis, and O's painfully obvious inability - and/or refusal - to do just that very basic thing. At least it should be basic for a nation's leader.

Obama is the first president to use the Internet for a townhall meeting.

If you think that no other president ever pre-screened questions, and rehearsed answers to those hand-picked questions, you are pathetically naive.

If you think President Obama is the only Commander in Chief to use a teleprompter, again you are pathetically naive.

George W. Bush sounded like an idiot even though he used a teleprompter.

President Obama is doing an excellent job. If you think it is so easy, I would love to see how well you do, knowing that the entire world is watching, many of whom want you to fail.

There's nothing new about this practice . It's not a change & gives no hope of change. This is the problem along with everything else being done as reactive not responsive. All things are not considered in fact any thing that conflicts with the preferential solution of the inner circle is; not offered ,ignored or impugned. Thus one way , the wrong way, that must be stopped or slowed down. Tea Party! NOW!

Who cares how Obama answers questions if he does a good job as president you have nothing else to say. Bush sounded like a complete idiot when he talked and the reason people gave him a hard time was because as a president he was a loser! If Obama does well and the majority of the people like him he can answer questions anyway he likes!

He can "cherry pick" the ones that will make him look good, have the scripted answer on the teleprompter and only take softball questions which he can spin. Biggest phony in history. His propaganda machine far exceeds that of Stalin, Marx, Hitler, Tojo and Mussolini.

In most cases questions are NOT pre-submitted! This is well known to every aware person. Where do you get your distorted info?

No, but his Teleprompter has had ready answers to put-up in the past. (seriously, he's always answered press questions by reading the prompter.)

Lately, a couple got through that hadn't been anticipated and you could see him struggling to hide his rage over this. It wasn't pretty.

To avoid such things going forward, live questions will no-longer be taken except from a small few trusted allies. Several members of the press have admitted (proudly - which is kind-of creepy) they have daily conferences with the White House to arrange even the NEWS in advance, so arranging friendly questions should be as easy as remembering who's safe to pick but Obama showed that's above his competency.

Every President since Washington, regardless of party or ideology, has used whatever memory aids technology provided. Further, no President has ever been elected without using every edge they can obtain.

There is nothing unethical or unprecedented in either pre submitted questions or prepared answers for anticipated questions. Why should this even be a matter for discussion? The teleprompter is simply a large note card, and those have been used forever.

That we have elected a President who looks forward and embraces the tools technology makes available is a pleasant change after a regime that preferred moving backwards into the fourteenth century, With the suspension of habeus corpus and the restoration of torture as a tool of justice.

The only fair assessment of a Presidency would be based on what it accomplishes. It is a little early to be judging Obama, so you partisans feel a need to snipe about insignificant issues. It might be wise to bear in mind that such evident predisposition shows that your bias cannot be overcome, and undermines your future credibility.

Some of us have reached the conclusion that George W. Bush did not need a teleprompter because Dick Cheney was too good a ventriloquist. Certainly, it is difficult to imagine the man using a blackberry with any effect. At least Obama, with all his faults, is capable of coping with technological change.

Every complaint about that ability only calls the shortcomings of his predecessor into sharper relief.

No, it's not revolutionary, but you cannot call it anything other than a staged propaganda event. This is not newsworthy; it is a commercial for Obamba and his radical agenda. Will someone please tell Lord Barry that he won the election so he can stop campaigning? thanks, and if I missed you have a belated Happy Kwanzaaaa!