http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...eprompt06.html
Obama's teleprompters too much?
By PETER BAKER
The New York Times
WASHINGTON — As he introduced his new choice for secretary of health and human services in the East Room this week, President Obama turned his head from right to left, but he was not looking at the audience. He was reading from two teleprompters strategically set up outside the tight television camera shot.
When he was done, the teleprompters quietly began retracting down to the floor. As she stepped forward to make her remarks, the nominee, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, seemed momentarily surprised.
"Don't mind the little ... " Obama said with a smile.
"It's disappearing!" she said, jokingly.
Presidents have been using teleprompters for more than half a century, but none have relied on them as extensively as Obama has so far. While presidents typically have used them for their most important speeches — an inaugural, State of the Union or Oval Office address — Obama uses them for routine announcements and even for the opening statement of his only news conference so far.
He used them during a visit to a Caterpillar plant in Peoria, Ill. He used them to make brief remarks opening his "fiscal responsibility summit." He used them to discuss endangered species, even recalling a visit to national parks as an 11-year-old. "That was an experience I will never forget," he said, reading from the teleprompter.