There are multiple stories out about the president’s teleprompter-dependency. Politico declares:

Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual — not only because he is famous for his oratory, but because no other president has used one so consistently and at so many events, large and small.

That’s a bit of a non sequitur since that “oratory” was, of course, generally written down and read. But still, should we care?

Well,  it is interesting in two respects. First, candidate Obama generated the illusion of competence and fluency on issues without ever imparting much substance. Hope, change, and meeting with Ahmadinejad are not exactly well-developed policy positions. And he got through debates, but as we know these are little more than a collection of pre-prepared soundbites to be thrown out whenever a question wanders into the subject matter of a rehearsed line.

So it shouldn’t come as any shock that a president who had less public-service experience than any previous inhabitant of the White House should need, as Politico so indelicately put it, “a crutch” to keep him from straying off topic or committing a gaffe. And when he briefly does fly “solo,” it gets dicey. Maybe all that thoughtful looking into the distance doesn’t equate to mastery of policy nuance. Once again, this governing stuff is tougher than campaigning.

Second, the press isn’t covering up for him. He used teleprompters quite liberally on the campaign trail — and was ribbed by conservative bloggers. His “umms” and “ahhs” were neatly edited out of transcripts by helpful MSM outlets. But now, as members of the media edge ever so slightly back into their day jobs perhaps it really is time to level with the American people. That would be a nice change of pace.

But whether he uses a crutch or not, the substance of what he says is far more important. Frankly, few conservatives would begrudge a cue card that read, “We need for now to lower taxes” or a teleprompter which spat out, “On second thought, cap and trade won’t do much without China and India in the mix.”