After That Townhall, I’m All A’Twitter

I think that went well, don’t you? The Twitter Townhall?

Uh, what button do I push again?

Big Guy certainly demonstrated his command of the new social media. And let’s not quibble about the fact that he didn’t Tweet back his answers, nor even constrain himself to the Twitter convention of 140 character response. He doesn’t have to, because…“I’m the President” Which, I'll just point out, IS fewer than 140 characters, as is “it’s Bush’s fault,” either of which would have been better answers then the long ones that Big Guy gave. For example:

On housing:

"The one thing that we can do is make sure that for homeowners that have been responsible, didn’t buy more house than they couldn’t afford…. Makes sure that they can afford to pay." [Ed. watch those double negatives: it sometimes appears as an attempt to purposely obfuscate the issue, or, minimally, makes the response confusing.]

"Given the size of the housing market, no federal program is going to be able to solve the housing [problem]."

Now, if only he can remember that concept as it applies to every other market of that magnitude – say, for example, health care.

On the Space Program:

"What you’re seeing now is NASA I think redefining its mission. We have set a goal of getting to Mars with a pit stop on an asteroid. We haven’t identified the asteroid yet."

"In order to do that we’re actually going to need some technological breakthroughs that we don’t have yet."

Muslims new technological breakthrough: wheeled ground transportation. They seem unclear on the concept however.

"Let’s allow the private sector to get in so that they can, for example, send these low-earth-orbit vehicles into space."

‘Cuz GM’s almost there already

On jobs:

Big Guy got the same question on jobs from John Boehner as he did from Richard Trumka at the AFL-CIO: “where are the jobs?”

"So it’s great that we have an Apple that’s creating iPods, iPads, and designing them and creating the software, but it would be nice if we’re also making the iPads and the iPods here in the United States, because that's some more jobs that people can work at."

How about tax incentives to move jobs back on-shore? I’m just sayin’.

"(On White House workers) They haven’t had a raise in two and a half years and that’s appropriate."

Oh oh. That might be a, ahem,lie? “White House Staffers Got a Raise Last Year, and You Did Not.” Apparently my raise must have slipped through the cracks. So to speak.

On Taxes:

"The debt ceiling should not be something that is used as a gun against the head of the American people to extract tax breaks for corporate jet owners or oil and gas companies that are making millions of dollars because the price of gasoline has gone up so high."

Excellent first shot in the launch of class warfare!

"If all we do is just go back to the pre-Bush tax cut rates for the top income brackets, millionaires and billionaires, that would raise hundreds of millions of dollars, and if you combine it with the cuts we’ve already proposed, we could solve our deficit and debt problems."

Excellent follow-up! Of course, once again, the short answer is “It’s Bush’s fault.”

Because after all, the pie is only so big.

On education:

"Working with university presidents to try to figure out where you can cut costs. Of course it may mean that the food in the cafeteria is a little worse, the cafeteria may be a little less fancy."

Hmmm…maybe this is another job for Lady M? Because she has a lot of experience with school cafeterias.

And food.

Butt back to Big Guy’s Twitter-fest. On immigration:

"We have an immigration system that’s broken right now." (It’s Bush’s fault)

Really?

You think?

Apparently answering only 18 Tweets from what turned out to be tens of thousands didn’t really set well with some folks though. Take CNN’s concern for example:

Which raises yet another question: Is it fair to turn over such a question-answer session to the people of the Internet? Or would democracy be better served by letting pundits, news people or even regular Joes who attend real-life town hall meetings ask questions of officials?

Hee hee. They didn’t really mean that last part about “regular Joes.” Butt I think I can answer their question. No. Absolutely not fair to turn such an important question-answer session over to people on the internet who are inexperienced and unqualified to ask fair and balanced questions. Give the job back to the professionals. Like Gwen Ifill, Chrissy “Tingles” Matthews, Katie Couric, and anyone from NPR. As long as you keep Fox News people away, we should be good.

Got to run: budget talks with the R-words this afternoon. That should be good too, since Big Guy’s never done a budget in his whole entire life. That’s been a job for his handlers, agents and various assorted little people ever since he was first dubbed “The Won.”

"People like me, who have been incredibly fortunate—mainly because a lot of people who have bought my book—for me to go back to the tax rate that existed under Bill Clinton so that I can make sure that kids still have Medicare and kids still have Head Start makes a lot of sense to me."

He was incredibly fortunate to have found such a talented writer to write his book: millions of Americans bought his story, along with his book.

So anyway, budgets and fiscal matters are not really his strong suit. Although I do understand he voted against raising the debt ceiling, before he voted for it.

That’s a wrap. WTF.

Linked By: Gerard @ American Digest and by

Larwyn’s Linx on DougRoss@Journal

Thanks!