Whenever we see Barrack Obama on television, it's during a scripted campaign speech or an even more rehearsed political advertisement. Thus, the "great orator" impression that alot of people have of him. Does he ever speak 'off the cuff'? Well, of course he does, but it's not as well reported when it happens.

Here's a couple of examples of it when it did happen, the first of which you can watch here.

An answer regarding healthcare, or something...

"What they'll say is, 'Well it costs too much money,' but you know what? It would cost, about... It -- it -- it would cost about the same as what we would spend... It... Over the course of 10 years it would cost what it would costs us... (nervous laugh) All right. Okay. We're going to... It... It would cost us about the same as it would cost for about -- hold on one second. I can't hear myself. But I'm glad you're fired up, though. I'm glad." -- Barack Obama

And about vetting the VP vetter:

"Now look, the, the, ah, ah, I mean the, uh, first of all, uh I, I, I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages, so you're going have to d-direct... Well, nah I mean it becomes sort of a... um... I mean this is a game that can be played. Everybody... you know, who is tangentially related to our campaign, I think, is going to have a whole host of relationships. I would have to hire the vetter to, uh, vet the vetter." -- Barack Obama

Perhaps that's why Obama declined the townhall style meetings with McCain over the summer, favoring (supposedly) more of the direct debates in the fall where the answers can be scripted more easily.