Obama Slips Up

Steve Benen put up footage from Obama's remarks yesterday about community organizing. Unfortunately, I liked the remarks more when I read them on the page than when I heard them on camera. The language itself is stronger than the delivery.

Obama slipped up at the outset, stating "So this is work I did three years ago." He meant twenty. But it's an important goof, because it set him up for distraction later when when he said "They're talking about the three years of work that I did right out of college . . . " It looks to me like he gets distracted by the goof, and then the verbal pauses come out. Watching from home, the public may wonder where the gifted orator disappears to when the teleprompter isn't on.

Granted, it's not always like that. But the public is realizing that Obama doesn't speak as well on the fly as he does from a script. And John McCain is known for speaking much better off the cuff than he does from prepared notes. Watch for this to figure in the coming weeks.