Shooting at Connecticut Elementary School

I'm sure Obama would have had lots more to say but can't because he's President. In terms of PR, reading off a script is pretty much required. In an emotional glass foundation like this, if Obama had misspoken or had gone out of line emotionally, the media would have been all over it. That speech was probably double tripled checked by the best speech writers in Washington, perfectly tailored to address the situation in so doing that nothing can be taken out of context and be used against him.

So what? Sometimes, it's worth bad press if you are actually being genuine. People that actually saw the speech would easily be able to tell that was not on script and would give him points just for that. I'm definitely that type of person; honestly, I feel like the more effort you put into pre-planning a speech, the less genuine it really is, because you are essentially trying to equalize out any and all actual content to the point that it's just a collection of words and not really anything significant. That's what almost every political speech sounds like to me, these days; a worthless waste of time that accomplishes nothing because no real, personal viewpoints are actually expressed.