WASHINGTON — In a presidency full of firsts, Barack Obama racked up another one: first sitting president to “tweet” live from the White House.
The president strode to a laptop set up in the East Room on Wednesday, splayed his fingers in classic touch-type position and “tweeted” out a question: “In order to reduce the deficit, what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep? BO.”
With that, the first-ever Twitter town hall was underway. Obama sat on a high stool and fielded questions submitted via the trendiest of social-media tools. The questions weren’t softballs. “Shnaps” seemed to think Obama was forsaking the free market.
Then there was a question about jobs. “After embarking on a record spending binge that’s left us deeper in debt, where are the jobs?” read the message from @johnboehner.
That would be House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Obama spotted a glitch in the message: “John needs to work on his typing skills.” Boehner’s office said there was no typo when the message went out.
Obama conceded that job growth hasn’t been fast enough but then asked why Boehner and other lawmakers won’t pay for road, sewer and bridge projects that could put people to work right away.
