Teleprompter usage by Barack Obama

Extensive teleprompter usage by U.S. President Barack Obama during his presidential campaign and his presidency has been noticed by the media and has drawn criticism. For example,
The Times Online wrote, "Mr Obama is becoming known as the 'teleprompter president' for his excessive use of the prompting screens, which retract when speeches are finished." This criticism has been rejected by supporters of the president. Michael Waldman, President Bill Clinton’s chief speechwriter, said "I don’t think anybody doubts that he's expressing his own thoughts."
In a New York Times opinion column, Maureen Dowd wrote, "Barack Obama even needs a teleprompter to get mad."
=="That was an experience I will never forget."==
According to The New York Times, while recalling a childhood vacation, Obama even read from a teleprompter when he said, "That was an experience I will never forget."
Malfunctions
On June 17th, 2008, Barack Obama's teleprompter went out at a campaign event in Bristol, Virginia. As a result, he was criticized for giving a poor speech:
After the teleprompter malfunctioned a few times last summer and Obama delivered some less-than-soaring speeches, reports surfaced that he was training to wean himself off of the device while on vacation in Hawaii. But no such luck.. While Denis Staunton, the Irish Times journalist, was actually in Washington for the event, almost all other news sources merely quoted or marginally altered their text from a press release put out by Associated Press. That press release used the wording "Obama laughed and returned to the podium to offer what might have been Cowen's remarks. In doing so, President Obama thanked President Obama for inviting everyone over." This was understood by almost everyone to mean that Obama made a lighthearted joke in reference to Cowen's earlier slip-up. However, David Byers of the Times (of London), wrote an entirely different account of the incident, reporting that Obama, instead of making a joke, had inadvertently read the start of Cowen's speech at this point.. This apparently erroneous report was then singled out by US political commentator Rush Limbaugh to assert that "The British newspapers skewer Obama on the subject." , and make further allegations that Obama "ended up reading the speech the teleprompter wrote for the Irish Prime Minister." However, it appears that David Byers was not present in Washington for the event, and like most of the other newspaper journalists was merely working from a press release. The accounts of journalists noted as being present in Washington, Denis Staunton of the Irish Times (and Rupert Cornwell of the Independent ) make it clear that Obama was making an intentional joke.
Teleprompter of the United States of America
According to Canada Free Press, Rush Limbaugh started referring to Obama's teleprompter as "TOTUS," which stands for "Teleprompter of the United States of America."
Defense of Obama
Robert Schlesinger, the deputy assistant managing editor at U.S. News and World Report, rebuffed criticism of President Obama's reliance on teleprompters by pointing out that using prepared remarks is not out of the ordinary for a President.<ref name=usnews/>
White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton said, "Whether one uses note cards or a teleprompter, the American people are a lot more concerned about the plans relayed than the method of delivery."<ref name=politico/>

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