Obama and Twitter

Monday, November 16, 2009

So President Barack Obama has never used Twitter and claims his thumbs are too clumsy for mobile computing. That’s quite a revelation from the man whose campaign mocked and ridiculed his 2008 opponent Sen. John McCain from saying he doesn’t use a computer and he cannot send his own e-mails.  Of course, McCain’s digits literally are too clumsy for the fine motor requirements of computing; They were rendered useless for a substantial portion of his young life, you might recall.

Obama’s attack on McCain was classless then. It is hypocritical now.

Of course, no one really expects the President of the United States to do his own Tweeting. But we do expect a little more from the first president of the digital age than, say, the fake president from West Wing.

When the president’s staff Tweets, “Pleased and grateful to learn that the AARP & the @AmerMedicalAssn are supporting the House health reform bill,” who, exactly is pleased?

When they Tweet, “Signed a bill today that protects citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love or how they pray,” who are we to assume did the signing?

Can staff express an emotion like, “humbled,” as they did here, on behalf of the president?  Or is that just phony and manipulative? Imagine the president leaning over the shoulder of a staff member saying, “tell them I’m humbled.”  It’s absurd.

Is Barack Obama just another pitchman for a soulless multinational corporation with a Twitter feed?