To cleanse the palate, Obama’s arrogance in a nutshell: He actually thinks he can govern the country and manage an unholy time-suck like Twitter at the same time. Give him a month for the addiction to take root. By the end of the summer, he’ll be stopping during speeches to check his notifications. The more time he ends up farting away online, the less time he’ll have to make policy. Which … isn’t a terrible outcome, now that I think about it.
How do we get this guy to start playing Minecraft?
Hello, Twitter! It's Barack. Really! Six years in, they're finally giving me my own account.
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
Yes, there is indeed already a very, very, very popular @BarackObama account on Twitter, but that’s not his. It’s run by Organizing for America, his old campaign operation. There’s also a separate @WhiteHouse account, but that’s for executive branch news. This is the president’s own account, to be bequeathed to his successor in office in 2017. Why a pol as media-savvy as O didn’t think of it until year seven of his presidency is unclear; until today, the White House account seemed sufficient for his needs. Maybe he’s concluded that the future of international diplomacy involves world leaders openly trolling each other on social media, a la Tom Cotton and Javad Zarif a few weeks ago. If you thought the relationship between Obama and Netanyahu was fraught now, wait until they start subtweeting each other.
MKH complains that O’s “follow” list is the most boring ever, a salad of alma maters, political cronies, and federal departments. I dunno — some of the omissions are interesting, at least. For instance, as of this writing, he follows Bill Clinton but not Hillary. Hmmmm. And although he follows many Chicago sports teams, he doesn’t follow all of them:
https://twitter.com/AndrewStilesUSA/status/600350157142695937
Democrats told us he’s a sexist. And they were right.
Exit question: No, really, why does he need, or want, his own Twitter account? Is this his only chance of getting Iran’s supreme leader to talk to him in public?
Update: God help us as we begin this horrifying new era of cutesy political banter.
Good question, @billclinton. The handle comes with the house. Know anyone interested in @FLOTUS?
— President Obama (@POTUS44) May 18, 2015
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