Afraid that he might try to name the 57 states, or talk again about his “Muslim faith” or call Sarah Palin another farm animal, the Obama campaign has issued The One a new traveling companion…his teleprompter.

Obama’s teleprompter hits the trail
CNN PoliticalTicker

But the Illinois senator used a teleprompter at both his Colorado events Monday — making for a particularly peculiar scene in Pueblo, where the prompter was set up in the middle of what is normally a rodeo ring.

Lots of candidates use prepared text.  Lots of them use notes.  Speaking in front of a crowd can be nervewracking.  No question there.

But this sorta takes a little bit more of the shine off the halo.

Maybe the campaign watched this video:

See also:

Have Teleprompter, will travel
Ed Morrisey at HotAir
But for a campaign that laughably dismissed Palin two weeks ago for using a speechwriter, this seems rather revealing.  Palin uses speechwriters, and Obama can’t be separated from his Teleprompter.  Maybe they can avoid the whole problem with a Milli Vanilli/Ashlee Simpson approach and have Obama lip-synch the speeches instead.

Handlers Muzzle Barack? Suddenly Using Teleprompter On Campaign Trail?
Warner Todd Huston at Publius Forum
Obviously Obama’s famous stammer, his uncontrollable ums and ahs on top of his inauspicious “lip stick on a pig” comment has caused the campaign to reign in their inarticulate (once on his own and off the prompter) candidate.