The Return of TOTUS

The famous Teleprompter of the United States made a triumphant return to the campaign of President Barack Obama.

The experiment to wean Obama off the machine failed in spectacular fashion when, without the benefit of a prepared script, the president uttered his now famous "You didn't build that" comment. Even after the damaging gaffe, the Obama campaign insisted that the teleprompter would rarely be used.

Until yesterday:

President Obama spoke to supporters in Florida this afternoon, but was careful to stick to his script, relying heavily on his teleprompters.

The president campaigned without teleprompters last month, when he made his  controversial "you didn't build that" remark about business owners.

A campaign aide insisted last week that Obama's slip up wouldn't change the campaign's teleprompter strategy.

 "The attempts by the Romney campaign to make this into their rallying cry haven't changed anything," said a senior campaign official to the Hill, adding that Obama "has done events without a teleprompter since then." 

A picture at the Examiner link from a campaign event in Florida yesterday clearly shows the president using the teleprompter for his remarks.

Peggy Noonan believes that "You didn't build that" will be remembered as the most famous phrase of Obama's presidency. No argument there.

The return of TOTUS probably means that the number of Obama gaffes will fall considerably now that he has his trusted crutch to lean on. Now the gaffes will occur when he starts trying to explain the miserable economy and how it's Bush's fault.

I don't think TOTUS will be able to help him much there.