Barack Obama today held a “Twitter Townhall,” at which the president agreed to answer questions posed to him on Twitter (marked by the #AskObama hashtag). The tweets were filtered by “a Twitter Search algorithm” that aimed to “identify the most engaged-with Tweets,” but were also subject to further filtering by a panel. So no one will have been surprised by the absence of anything particularly damning or controversial.
Here are a collection of the tweets the president would presumably rather had not been posted:
Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wisc.), chairman of the House Budget Committee, asked:
#AskObama Senate hasn’t passed a budget in 798 days. House passed plan 2 lift debt&spur job creation–what is your jobs plan?
#AskObama Fearmongering won’t solve our debt crisis. Americans deserve a real debate. You pick: when and where? #2Futures
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R., Ohio) chipped in:
With 9.1% unemployment & “shovel ready” jobs a bust, will you admit the ‘stimulus’ was a mistake?http://bit.ly/oTK17f #askobama
Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.):
#AskObama: are you in as much denial as your ex-auto #czar on “success” of #bailout? http://bit.ly/nesnzD #tcot #jobs #GM #Ford #Chrysler
South Carolina governor Nikki Haley (R.) stayed close to home:
Why is your administration supporting the NLRB’s job killing policies in South Carolina? #AskObama
And even the supposedly Obama-friendly AFL-CIO weighed in with the simple but pointed:
Where are the jobs? #AskObama
Quite.
PBS’s Gwen Ifill asked “why we thought #askobama would be more than a tech platform for the WH.” This was a fair comment, but it didn’t prevent some amusing tweets, none of which made it onto the screens at the event:
David Burge (@iowahawk) published a stream of witty and biting questions, amongst which our favorites were:
#askobama Is this a Town Hall or a Potemkin Village Hall?
#askobama Who are these “those who say”?
#askobama if punishing employers results in more employment, can you also punish beer makers?
#askobama I really need to start living within my means. Do you recommend I start holding up banks or convenience stores?
Andrew Breitbart asked:
When Jeffrey Toobin appears on CNN as a pompous, morally compromised legal expert do you giggle like the rest of us? #AskObama
Explain how attending Hawaii’s elite private Punahou School informed your anti-school choice agenda. #AskObama
@irishspy posed a geography question:
What are the capital cities of states 51 through 57? #askobama
And ranging into the surreal, @thecultureofme asked:
#AskObama how can we kill spiders on a global scale like we’ve done to bees?
Tweet of the Day, however, goes to the unknown Kevin Smith, whose verdict read:
I have never seen anyone who can talk so much and still say absolutely nothing of any intelligence #askobama
One would have to be Twitterpated with Obama to believe in this stuff. Even Bambi would be scornful.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLOL...that's the best response I've seen in a long time. Everyone knows Obama is twitterpated....with himself!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSir, what is your next idea for signalling to the American public that life will become more regulated and expensive in the foreseeable future?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIowahawk rules the twit-nation.
#askobama: In your daily schedule, I notice large gaps of time between one or two meetings a day (when you are not campaigning and using our money to fly Air Force One). What are you doing with your valuable time other than practicing putts in the Oval Office?
So the people do not understand the economy because big words are involved? Perhaps they should check the "internets" you speaketh of.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIf Chris Wallace had tweeted a question, I would have wanted it to be this:
#AskObama: Some people say you behaved like a d**k during your last press conference. Did you behave like a d**k?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGod, is this guy transparent, or what? And he does not even realize that either the veneer in which he drapes himself is see-through, or the king's clothes have disappeared altogether.
This is the "unbeatable" Obama. He holds a presser, and blames the GOP for not passing a budget, when they did, his got zero votes, and the Dems - with Schmukkie Schumer suggesting they don't need one -- forswearing to draft one.
Most serious commentators think it's a joke, and someone (NOT a conservative, by any stretch) gets in hot water for calling him a male anatomical part.
Now, he holds a "TwitterConf" and we are all supposed to marvel both at his "openness and transparency" but also his technological savvy.
He has no idea just how transparent he is, even as he redoubles his efforts to shroud his true intentions.
AFL-CIO? Tough Question? So:
What was the AFL-CIO's ulterior motive? Socialists, remember:
Distrust. No trust and verify, just distrust.
"Even Bambi would be scornful."
To which of the PLETHORA of movies with such a character do you refer?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHis new clothes befit an emperor!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI was thinking of the Disney film where (when the weather grew warm) all the Wittle Forest Creatures got 'twitterpated' and acted foolishly and without dignity, 'cause they were in love.
Like Obama the Endless Campaigner, and his Twitter Critters. Embarrassing.
I shudder to think what other 'Bambi' films might be out there, but solemnly promise never to go see any of them.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think the one from the AFL-CIO spells doom for obama. If Trumka is that down on obama, the unions may not vote GOP, but they probably will just stay home and not vote. If that happens obama will not win one state in the south and the only state in the midwest he may win would be Chicagoland
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI wonder if the Tweets appeared on a teleprompter for our boy king to read.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseObama aide, typing from teleprompter, gives following two answers (140 characters) to every question (changes answer each question, figures twits to dumb to notice) :
I’m not kicking can down road, GOP is! GOP wants to kill your granny and give tax-breaks to millionaires and billionaires while you starve.
and
Bush left me this mess! I’ve taken the car out of the ditch. Bush lied, peeps died, but who got bin Laden? Thats right, ME! I got bin Laden!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTotally.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe remarkable thing was he touted more than once the tax bill he signed in December, then a few minutes later said taxes needed to go up. So why'd he sign the bill?
It was one of several "Huh?" moments for me.
And high tax rates for the rich will result in more jobs? Can someone please, please get him to clarify that? (He can't, I know.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI didn't realize congressmen were sending in question. Did Anthony Weiner tweet a question?.... a picture?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat a moronic group of questions. Yet another reason I never use twitter.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseInteresting, one could make the same statement about the comments section on a blog.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwitter requires some infinitesimally small amount of humor. Since you don't have it, it's just as well you stay off Twitter.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell, a "Where are the jobs?" question is certainly important, only it should be directed at GOP leaders rather than at Obama. After all, they keep averring that the wealthy are the "job creators" and raising their taxes would hinder that. But they're overlooking a glaring "inconvenient fact": the Bush tax cuts have been in place for 10 years, and rather than creating jobs, the wealthy have been slashing jobs and not creating them. Rather, they've been taking their deficit-contributing tax cuts and putting it into their offshore tax havens instead. Sorry, GOPers, but you can't have it both ways even though you'd certainly like to -- you can't aver that tax cuts create jobs and then pretend that these tax cuts don't exist now in light of the paltry unemployment rate.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe rates have been the same for years. They were not "cut" recently and the economy has adjusted to the impact of the cuts years ago. To take them up now would cut economic output. Your gotcha moment is not one. If you and Democrats want to pay higher taxes, why don't you volunteer as a way to lead?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDear Idiot,
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abusewhy do you think Obama signed extension of Bush's tax cuts?
80% of tax cuts were for middle class.
Our economy was in good shape before 2006 when Democrats won the Congress.
Its not tax cuts but CRA and other Democrats' inventions that brought economy down. And now when we have a clown instead of President, only idiot like you can think that things can improve before 2013 when/if the chicago thug is out of office.