President Obama's National Prayer Breakfast Speech

So today in class, while many of our classmates were attending President Obama's speech in Rec Hall, those of us who actually came to class watched his first speech of the day, at the National Prayer Breakfast.  For those who are unaware of what the National Prayer Breakfast is, it is an event which takes place on the first Thursday of February in which a few thousand American and international political figures gather for a celebration of faith over breakfast.  The President has spoken at this event ever since Dwight Eisenhower, and this year was no different.

President Obama gave a fairly normal speech for this breakfast.  He hit all of the important points, and displayed his Christian faith, but I personally felt that there was something off with his speech, both in presentation and within the speech itself.  President Obama has always very charismatic, but I felt that this morning, he seemed very awkward behind the microphone.  I know that the speech was directed at the people at the Breakfast, but he must have known that he was being filmed.  So why did he NEVER look at the camera, or even anywhere close to the camera?  His eyes went from his notes, to stage right, to his notes. to stage left, and so on.  I felt that this made a sort of disconnect between the President and the audience (at least the online audience).  His speech could have been very poignant, but his lack of connection with the cameras, or even the people sitting by the cameras, kind of ruined it for me.

I also felt that his speech was slightly disjointed.  He began the speech by saying how people nowadays are too caught up in the quest for money and power to appreciate the real gifts of life.  I feel that this is completely true, and to have the President acknowledge it is great.  He then somewhat abruptly switched to speaking about his faith.  I realize that he was speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast, and the point is pretty much to celebrate religion, but his speech turned somewhat weird.  Maybe it is because I believe in a distinct separation of Church and State, and to have the President speak about one religion is a little biased, but I believe that many other people were put off by this.  But I don't feel that he really had his heart behind what he said.  He seemed distant, and almost bored.  Why do President's feel obligated to make a speech at a function such as this?  I would much rather them not make a speech than make a half-hearted speech like his.

See his speech here.