Bob McCarty Writes

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Unlike Ronald Reagan, “The Great Communicator” to whom many on the left want to compare him, Barack Obama has a long track record of displaying poor oratory and interviewing skills.  His track record dates back at least as far as an interview (see video above) broadcast Nov. 25, 2002, on a local cable television channel in Chicago.

Then State Senator Obama, he fielded a small handful of foreign policy questions from Jeff Berkowitz, host of the program, “Public Affairs.”  Incredibly, he used variations of the word, “Uhh,” a total of 30 times during the interview that lasted two minutes and 47 seconds.  That’s almost 10 times per minute!

As a former Air Force public affairs officer, political campaign manager and corporate communications director who stood before members of the news media on more occasions than I can count, I assure you that I would have been deemed incompetent had I stammered and stuttered so many times during an interview.  Heck, my junior high speech teacher would have given me a failing grade for that kind of performance.  And he wants to be president?

Don’t believe me, though.  Judge for yourself by watching the video (below) and/or any video showing the junior senator from Illinois in an interview setting — without a teleprompter.  Scroll down to read the complete transcript within which I have highlighted the “uhhs” and “uhhms” in boldface type.

TRANSCRIPT BEGINS BELOW:

Jeff Berkowitz: “Is foreign policy an issue as you see it in the 2004 Democratic Primary?  Is Iraq an issue? Is Afghanistan an issue?  Is terrorism an issue or is this something that does not interest the Democratic Party?”

Barack Obama: “I can’t imagine that it will not be an issue?”

Berkowitz: “Okay, so what is your position on the war or potential war in Iraq?”

Obama: “Well, uhh, you know, I am actually pleased with how, uhh, things evolved from where I thought they were going to be about three months ago in the sense that I think, uhhm, whether because of Collin Powell’s intervention or the pressure from allies across, uhh, Europe that President Bush went through, uhh, the United Nations, obtained Security Council resolution calling for, uhh, aggressive, uhh, inspections in Iraq, uhh.

“I don’t think there’s anybody who imagines that, uhh, uhh, Saddam Hussein is a good guy, uhh, or somebody that, uhh, isn’t a threat to stability in the region as well as his own people, uhh.  But I also think, uhh, that, uhh, us rushing headlong into a war unilaterally, uhh, was a mistake and may still be a mistake, uhhm, and I think that we have to give those inspections a chance.

“Part of what’s going to be difficult to anticipate by the time (of) the March 2 oh, you know, 20-oh-four primary is whether, uhhm, in fact, uhh, the United States has invaded Iraq, whether, the, uhh, the overthrow of Saddam is complete.  Uhh.  If it has happened, then, at that point, what the debate’s really going to be about is what’s our long-term commitment there.

“How much is it going to cost?  What does it mean for us to rebuild Iraq?  How do we stabilize and make sure that this country doesn’t splinter into factions between the Shias and the Kurds and the Sunnis.  There’s going to be a whole host of, uhh, uhh, critical issues and I think that’s going to be something that, uhh, whoever the Democratic nominee or those who are seeking the nomination, uhhm, is going to have to be able to grapple with effectively.”

Berkowitz: “How would you have voted a few months ago when they had the vote on the so-called Iraq War Powers Resolution?  Is the Democratic Party split on that?”

Obama: “I think there is a division and…”

Berkowitz: “How would you have voted?  Would you have supported that resolution — voted yea or nay?”

Obama: “If it had come to me in an up-or-down vote as it came, I think I would have agreed with, uhh, our senior senator, Dick Durbin, and voted nay.  And the reason is, not that I don’t think we should have aggressive inspections, uh, what I, uhh, would have been concerned about was a, uhhm, carte blanche to the administration, uhh, for a doctrine of preemptive strikes, that I’m not sure sets a good precedent.”

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See also:  Expert to Listen for Debate ‘Ers’ and ‘Ums’

See also: No Reagan, Barack Obama is ‘Great Exaggerator’

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