WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama kicked off his first Twitter town hall with — what else? — a tweet.
Using a laptop set up on a podium in the East Room of the White House, Obama typed this message: “In order to reduce the deficit, what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep?”
The tweet set the tone for the town hall focused on jobs and the economy and hosted by Twitter, the social media service. Twitter selected the questions for the president from the thousands of inquires submitted from people across the country.
The first question for Obama asked the president what mistakes he’d made in handling the recession and what he’d do differently.
Obama defended his stimulus program as “the right thing to do.” But he allowed that his administration had underestimated the severity of the recession, and so he did not prepare the American people “for how long this was going to take” and the touch choices that lay ahead. Obama also said the problems in the housing market were more stubborn than expected and he’d had to revamp his housing assistance programs several times.
While the inquiries had to meet Twitter’s 140-character limit, Obama had no such restrictions.
The president was answering the questions out loud, and Twitter was boiling his answers down at askobama.twitter.com.
The White House invited about 30 people who follow the administration’s official Twitter account, @WhiteHouse, to come to Washington to take part in Wednesday’s event. The invitees will also meet with senior administration officials following the town hall to share their thoughts on the issues that are important to them, the White House said.
Obama has taken questions from the public via social media, including Twitter, before. In April, he took part in a town hall hosted by Facebook.
White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said the president sees social media as a way to reach beyond the mainstream media and connect with voters outside of Washington.
Twitter users are being asked to submit questions using the hashtag #AskObama.
Hours ahead of the town hall, questions were coming in from some of Obama’s political rivals. House Speaker John Boehner, who goes by the Twitter handle @SpeakerBoehner, asked “Will you take tax hikes off the table, or tell the American people how raising taxes will create jobs?”
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney — @MittRomney — stuck with the same theme, asking simply, “Where are the jobs?”
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
