January 17, 2017

Can the President tweet? Yes, but not very well at all.

ncHe hasn't put anything up since January 10th, and it's just:

That's pointing you to another place, the place where he's most comfortable speaking to the American people: on TV, in a calm, upholstered setting, a few feet away from a news or talk-show celebrity whose face glows with love.

And it's odd, isn't it?, that @BarackObama speaks of Barack Obama in the third person — President Obama reflects on eight years of progress.

That's not really the right way to do Twitter. You should feel like a real person, talking straight to us. Directly at us and in clear words that convey specific, almost startling meaning.

And you have to put a few things up every day. Before that January 10th tweet, @BarackObama hadn't tweeted anything since before the election. On November 5th, he tweeted: "In the weekly address, President Obama discusses what #Obamacare has done to improve health care" — (another promo for a speech, a little note to say what I have to say will be somewhere other than on Twitter). And he had 2 posts that day. The other one was: "Let's keep working to keep our economy on a better, stronger course."

Now, I'm reading the fine print: "This account is run by Organizing for Action staff. Tweets from the President are signed -bo." I don't think there's been a "-bo" tweet in over a year.

Imagine the praise that would be lavished on Barack Obama if he'd really tweeted in the way that counts as real tweeting. Imagine if he'd said pithy things that cut to the core of important issues and events and if he had taken good-humored shots at critics. Oh! He'd have been celebrated as the new-media-savvy genius of the world!

But Barack Obama will only be President for 3 more days. The incoming President actually has already established himself a brilliant Twitter user. He has leaped over innumerable political and media critics, danced over their heads in a mind-boggling journey to the White House. He's talked to us the People in clear, sharp words and no one could stop him. We liked the straight talk. Not all of us, but some of us, and those that liked it got their/our way.

But the mainstream media will never celebrate his new-media genius. That's why he had to be a new-media genius to get where he did in the most impressive free-speech achievement in the history of the world. Oh! Suddenly, I am celebrating him. But I'm not mainstream media. I'm new media too. I'm savvy in my own way in my little domain of blogging, and I think I can say from one new-media voice to another: I celebrate you! 

And to those old media people who publicly agonize about the prospect of the new President tweeting: I have seen your phony-baloney worried faces on the news shows...



...  as you confront the serioso question whether Trump's advisers can stop him from tweeting. You are worried about yourselves, and rightly so. And you know damned well you'd have been utterly delighted and overflowing with praise if Barack Obama had tweeted like Donald Trump.

ADDED: Organizing for Action. That sounds familiar. Ah! Here it is. My post from January 18, 2013:
"Obama unveils 'Organizing for Action.'"

I read the Politico headline out loud.

Meade immediately improvises a song, and I have the wit and the skill to transcribe as he sings:
Organize for action
Organize for some action, baby
Organize! Organize!
Organize my organ
Activate my organ for organizing
A little girly action
Organize for action
ADDED: "You in?"
Ha ha. And now, clicking on the Politico link, I see why @BarackObama is such a dead, dull Twitter feed:
President Barack Obama on Friday announced the relaunch of his remaining campaign apparatus as a new tax-exempt group called Organizing for Action that will “play an active role” in “mobilizing around and speaking out in support of important legislation” during his second term.
The tax code lures people into restricting their own speech. Obama let his name appear on a Twitter feed that was doomed to be un-Twitter-y by the need to fit the demands of the IRS. Big Government trips over itself. Sad!

ALSO: I am directed to the Twitter feed @POTUS. This too presents itself as Barack Obama tweeting. I see 3 MLK Day tweets. e.g., "Dr. King and those who marched with him proved that people who love their country can change it. As Americans, we all owe them a great deal." Before that there is a January 12th post expressing pride in the arrival of Obama's autograph on Mars.

There is a January 12th post:
Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I'm asking you to believe—not in my ability to create change, but in yours.
Ask not what your President can change for you, ask what you can do for change.

On January 1st, similarly, Barack Obama spoke in vague terms about himself:
It’s been the privilege of my life to serve as your President. I look forward to standing with you as a citizen. Happy New Year everybody.
And, also on New Year's, he approved of himself in a series of tweets like:
From realizing marriage equality to removing barriers to opportunity, we've made history in our work to reaffirm that all are created equal.
I've reviewed this Twitter feed too, and I stand by my position that Barack Obama is not doing anything that I would count as real tweeting. There's no sense that the human being Barack Obama is using Twitter to speak to us directly and to speak clearly in his personal voice. Like @BarackObama, @POTUS feels like banal PR written by some unknown person with an assignment to cause a Twitter presence to exist. 

AND: I've actually followed @POTUS since its inception, so I have seen it come up continually as I read Twitter. It's obviously not made an impression on me as something beyond a generic White House PR feed.

93 comments:

David Begley said...

And I celebrate Althouse celebrating Trump.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Maybe there's something about being progressive politically and not being media savvy. They think history is going to deliver them a victory, so they don't have to work all that hard for it.

Now it's: my God, a friend of Trump's bought the National Enquirer, and that gives him unfair access to almost everyone: everyone in checkout lines in supermarkets reads the headlines! As if no Hillary or Obama supporter could possibly have thought of that, with all their expertise--don't worry, we know how to win elections.

A few years ago it was AM Radio and the end of the fairness in broadcasting regulations. Music was shifting to FM and portable digital formats, so right-thinking people seem to have assumed that AM radio would just die. Then suddenly: oh no! the right wing loons have taken over AM radio, it's all slanted, and people are actually listening!

Karen of Texas said...

It seems you might be as irritated by all the Trump hate as I am. I was forced to become a reluctant Trump defender when members of my family pushed stupid, erroneous, fake-news and actively spread propaganda. The mis- and disinformation that they posted on fb pissed off - mostly because they were unwilling to examine their sources and admit to the possibility that maybe crap might be flowing from both sides.

The more hate and ugliness I am exposed to heading into the 20th, the less reluctant I become. See for instance the project veritas video on the planned disruption at the DeploraBall. These people are unhinged.

Henry said...

I'm savvy in my own way in my little domain of blogging, and I think I can say from one new-media voice to another: I celebrate you!

Shades of Walt Whitman. Song of Myself is the original new-media voice. Each line of each stanza, a single tweet:

I celebrate myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.

Creeds and schools in abeyance,
Retiring back a while sufficed at what they are, but never forgotten,
I harbor for good or bad, I permit to speak at every hazard,
Nature without check with original energy.

Robert J. said...

Trump is the Walt Whitman of tweeting, sounding his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world.

Eleanor said...

I guess I've skipped the next 3 days because when I read the headline, I assumed you were going to bash Trump for using Twitter. In my mind Trump is already the President. The word I use most to describe Obama is "pretentious". Pretentious people get eaten alive on Twitter so maybe it's better he stayed away.

Comanche Voter said...

Just add tweeting to a long list of things that our soon to be departed New Lightworker doesn't do very well. And you can add being an "ex" President to that list very soon.

Karen of Texas said...

And Judge Jeanine has an epic takedown.

Judge Jeanine, tell us how you really feel.

Ann Althouse said...

"Shades of Walt Whitman. Song of Myself is the original new-media voice."

I thought that as I wrote it and Meade brought it up when he read it.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Maybe there's something about being progressive politically and not being media savvy."

You don't need to be "media savvy" when almost everyone in the media is your lapdog. They've tossed him soft ball questions and adored and worshiped him. Obama don't need no stinkin' Twitter.

Saint Croix said...

wow, what a great post!

Humperdink said...

Bob said: "Trump is the Walt Whitman of tweeting, sounding his barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world."

Yawp: Noun, shout or exclaim hoarsely.

Bob, you need to head back to the Roget's. It doesn't fit.

Freder Frederson said...

If you think that tweeting on important policy issues by the president is a good thing, then you have totally lost your mind.

There is also the corrosive effect of tweeting out lies (like John Lewis' district is "in horrible shape and falling apart") which cannot be countered.

William said...

I think OFA's tax-exempt status needs a thorough review.

Earnest Prole said...

Trump’s tweets are brilliant — and if one of our enemies misinterprets him and the world ends in a blinding flash of light, he’ll also have the last word.

MadisonMan said...

What Eleanor said -- pretentious twits on twitter tweeting would not survive -- unless they are revered by the Infotainment left, in which case he'd get plenty of retweets and favorites for the same reason he got a Peace Prize.

The unstrained enmity towards Trump is really draining. I'm trying not to lash out at people because discussing politics in Madison is pointless.

jaydub said...

Karen of Texas, my sentiments exactly. For me it was the constant moral preening amidst the never ending schoolyard taunts of "homophobe/islamophobe/xenophobe/misogynist/racist." These people are their own worst enemies. I just wish the left could get it's act together and finish committing suicide now, rather than dragging this spectacle out over the whole Trump era.

Henry said...

I thought that as I wrote it and Meade brought it up when he read it.

I was pretty sure the celebrate phrase was knowingly done.

tim in vermont said...

I was thinking it's more like that story, The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber, but when the wife starts shooting at her newly empowered hubby, this time she can't kill him.

Or like Trumbo, who won by telling the scolds to fuck off.

MadisonMan said...

So I looked at the Organizing for Action blog post, and commenting there was Pogo. Whatever happened to that commenter?

Then I thought: Is there a way graphically to show when a particular person has posted on this blog? People come and go so quickly here, sometimes, it'd be interesting (to me) to see that.

n.n said...

The progress of spinning balls of yarns is characterized by a fifty percent chance that each succeeding yarn will trap the spinner in a paradox of their own creation.

Original Mike said...

"...Organizing for Action that will “play an active role” in “mobilizing around and speaking out in support of important legislation” during his second term."

Was there any important legislation in his second term?

rehajm said...

It's interesting to watch Obama become the first President to 'live tweet'. Since it's 2011 it's easier to forgive the crudeness. What's sad is it never got much better...

What a twit Jack Dorsey is, though. Talk about your squandered billions...

rehajm said...

Was there any important legislation in his second term?

Some of the stuff he vetoed. The dry run Congress made on tax policy sure is coming in handy.

MaxedOutMama said...

Well, of course this TrumpTwitter hysteria is irrational. It's the modern-day equivalent of FDR's fireside chats on radio.

The fear expressed (intelligence agencies) seems to be based on the idea Trump is too scatter-brained to know what not to say, so that he needs to be censored and filtered by a team of individuals bent upon covering up his terrible gaffes before they leak out and do terrible damage.

A Times (of England) reporter and Kai Diekmann of Germany's Bild just had a 50-minute interview with Trump, unfiltered, no restrictions, no "handler" management. The interview has received extensive coverage in Germany. Diekmann was also interviewed by curious German reporters, and commented on how well-prepared and knowledgeable Trump seemed. Also how "refreshing". One can read the whole interview here in English by registering:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/full-transcript-of-interview-with-donald-trump-5d39sr09d

It may be that our media has created a false narrative around Trump. The cabinet picks seem very focused, the transition is hurtling onward with great speed compared to Obama's, and Trump seems to me to know exactly what he wants to do.

Big Mike said...

Back in 1993 the late Michael Chrichton predicted that people would turn away from mass media and get their news assembled for them online. He didn't get everything right -- he assumed that AI would do the news assembly, whereas we humans stubbornly prefer Matt Drudge and Ann Althouse and Glenn Reynolds and Breitbart and other "wetware" sources. He was also way off on the time scale, since he thought a decade would do it but it took until 2016, and even then mostly because the mass media badly overplayed their hand in the past election. But he was more right than wrong. And people who make gazillions of dollars as news anchors just discovered what it felt like to make the best buggy whips in town a century ago.

wild chicken said...

And to think, in 2008, Obama's people bragged they won because they knew how to use twitter and stuff.

Big Mike said...

@Eleanor, the word that best describes Obama is "petulant," though l'll concede that "pretentious" also applies most of the time.

rehajm said...

It may be that our media has created a false narrative around Trump. The cabinet picks seem very focused, the transition is hurtling onward with great speed compared to Obama's, and Trump seems to me to know exactly what he wants to do.

Yes. What traditional media is trying to label as 'scatter brained' is really an effective tactic from the Trump administration. Flooding the news feed with a dozen different narratives makes it impossible for MSM to implement the traditional kind of leftie coordination between print, the weekday talking heads and the Sunday talk shows.

Ryan McLaughlin said...

Coincidental that you wrote about this today when this is what David Brooks wrote over at the NYT. It's about Trump's use of Twitter. (Hopefully this will hyperlink).
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/opinion/the-lord-of-misrule.html?rref=collection%2Fcolumn%2Fdavid-brooks&action=click&contentCollection=opinion&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

Unknown said...

Re: "The incoming President actually has already established himself a brilliant Twitter user."

Check the latest polls. Orange Don's poll numbers are diving. He might have a direct Twitter line to 30m in Trumpland but there more than 300m people in the US.

Curious George said...

"Tweets from the President are signed -bo."

His dog was tweeting for him? Huh. Probably for the best.

J2 said...

But President Obama shared with us his summer playlists. That's real intimacy.

Luke Lea said...

Tonight on PBS at 9'oclock EST: the first two hours of a four hour look at the Obama administration: "A Disunited America" or something like that. At last a less fawning look at the man and his record I hope.

MaxedOutMama said...

Also, in that interview, Trump was asked about the Twittering:

...
But ya know the tweeting is interesting because I find it very accurate — when I get a word out and if I tell something to the papers and they don’t write it accurately, it’s really bad — they can’t do much when you tweet it and I’m careful about, it’s very precise, actually it’s very, very precise — and it comes out breaking news, we have breaking news — ya know, it’s funny, if I did a press release and if I put it out, it wouldn’t get nearly — people would see it the following day — if I do a news conference, that’s a lot of work.


He earlier states that he had expected to tone the Twittering down, but then goes on to say that has changed in view of the media's stance. Understandable.

Unknown said...

A perfect example of the Orange Don's "winning" communication style.

2009: List of performers at Obama's Inaugural Celebration
Bruce Springsteen, Mary J Blige, Jon Bon Jovi, James Taylor, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Queen Latifah, Sheryl Crow, Garth Brooks, Stevie Wonder, U2, Pete Seeger, Beyonce, Laura Linney, Steve Carell, Tom Hanks, Marisa Tomei, Jack Black, Ashley Judd and many more ...

2017: List of performers at Trump's Inaugural Celebration
Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down, The Frontmen of Country, Lee Greenwood, The Piano Guys, Jackie Evancho

Rest of America outside of Trumpland and entire World will be watching on TV. Embarassing and pathetic.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

According to The Atlantic, Obama was too good at social media.

Meade said...

Great find, MaxedOut.

Wince said...

Tweedle-lee-deedle-lee-dee
Tweedle-lee-deedle-lee-dee
Tweedle-lee-deedle-lee-dee


Tweet. Tweet. Tweet. Tweet.

He rocks in the tree-top all the day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singin' his song
All the little birds on Jay Bird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Rockin' robin (tweet tweet tweet)
Rock, rock, rockin' robin (Tweet, tweedle-lee-dee)
Blow, rockin' robin
'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight
(Tweet, tweedle-lee-dee)

mockturtle said...

Unknown somehow thinks we give a fat rat's ass what entertainers show up on inauguration day. And she apparently thinks we give a flying fuck what the 'entire World' thinks of our inauguration. Pathetic.

Michael K said...

There is also the corrosive effect of tweeting out lies (like John Lewis' district is "in horrible shape and falling apart") which cannot be countered.

Yes, the left knows what a brilliant story Lewis's district is with Nobel Prize winners and everybody above average, just like Garson Keiler said.

Even Inga gets her sad little yelp in.

It may be that our media has created a false narrative around Trump.

The "Media" is about to learn what becoming the opposition in a democratic state is like.

I wonder where Trump will put the press "room." Maybe the DNC ? They can interview each other.

Curious George said...

"Luke Lea said...
Tonight on PBS at 9'oclock EST: the first two hours of a four hour look at the Obama administration: "A Disunited America" or something like that. At last a less fawning look at the man and his record I hope."

Well, here is the theme song. So maybe not.


Martha said...

In his mind I am sure Obama thinks he is the best twitterer who ever tweeted.
He said in Sunday's 60 Minutes exit interview: "I'm the best president I've ever been right now " and it was a shame he had to step down. Krauthammer correctly noted that that was a low bar.

Luke Lea said...

Speaking of farewells, Ike's was the best. Uses language and speaks a kind of wisdom you would never here today: https://goo.gl/2bMh8W (Reportedly he wrote it himself, over a two-year period!)

rehajm said...

Check the latest polls. Orange Don's poll numbers are diving.

Trump responds to Inga via Twitter!

MayBee said...

Luke Lea- I saw the host on Morning Joe and he seemed pretty clear eyed. He talked about how Obama really seemed to think his way was right, and speeches would move people toward him.

Which is my impression of Obama as well. That is how he governed.

MayBee said...

I'm not a fan of Trump's tweeting, but after learning that Hillary's supposedly personally created tweets (-H) actually were a 6 hour long staff project, I'm happy for it.

I want the fakeness out of politics. Politics can be very ugly and I want to see that when it's true.

Once written, twice... said...

This is your most embarrassing sycophantic post yet. He is your buffoonish president Ann. You own him.

Humperdink said...

I am disappointed over 30 democrat members of congress have chosen to boycott Friday's events. I was really hoping the entire D delegation would stay home.

In other news, Kleenex sales are way up.

LakeLevel said...

Unknown: "List of performers at Obama's Inaugural Celebration:"
It's an eminence front. It's a put on. Do you really believe that is important? Really? Look down into your tiny soul. Really? Those people are not America. What they think is only important if we let them be. You're playing a dangerous game Hollywood. Other players have snuck up on you and you don't even know it.

tcrosse said...

So Obama had Show Biz. Stupid old Donald has the House and Senate, and soon the Supreme Court. Fair trade.

Pookie Number 2 said...

Inga's definitely on to something when she notes that the majority of vacuous celebrities supported Obama.

who-knew said...

Being old and out of date, I don't follow the twittterverse. But now that President Obama's twitter feed has been partially revealed here, I feel like Ralphie decoding his first message from the Orphan Annie Secret Club, "what a gyp! It's just a stupid advertisement".

n.n said...

As we leave the twilight [zone], we can observe:

The Stars have been removed from our eyes.

The Ivory Tower is falling down, falling down, falling down.

... and The JournoLists of the Fourth Estate came tumbling after.

Pro-Choice is a first-order cause of Anthropogenic Climate Change.

roesch/voltaire said...

Oh my Ann likes the big tweeter because he is new media savvy like her But after anonymous released its tweeter threat to the Trump,( who they consider a cook and a coward) we shall see whose tweet reaches the "real Americans" with its "all so luscious" doting on the self.

MaxedOutMama said...

Unknown - Trump's support is actually increasing. Be careful of those polls. They share the same defects the pre-election polling did. If the election were redone now Trump would get at least a million more votes. Many of us are never going to like him, but we never voted for him in the first place because we liked him. We voted for a strategic correction, and it looks like he is going to try to deliver.

I think the double-down on the Trumpocalypse meme is occurring because it is becoming clear that:
A) Trump's campaign promises were not really campaign promises, but an actual statement of his goals, and
B) He has a decent chance of succeeding with them to some extent.

The economy's main impetus is provided by Gross Private Domestic Investment, which has been sorely lacking throughout this recovery and has recently gone negative year-over-year, presaging a recession.
See this graph: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/B006RO1Q156NBEA

Trump's primary goal appears to be to create a legal (tax/regulatory) situation in which it is less painful to invest in the US, and then to push companies to invest in the US, most especially by allowing them to bring back the trillions held overseas due to tax implications. This was a stated goal of OBAMA's - but he never followed through on it.

Over the last 20 years, corporate tax regimes in the "socialist" highly-developed countries have been greatly liberalized in the attempt to get that investment. Trump only has to get a bit of that investment back to vastly stimulate US private investment. This is why all the big economic forecasters are increasing US growth projections. It's real.

However, what might be economically good for many younger hispanics, blacks and whites in rural/old industrial areas could well turn into a Democratic voting crisis in 2018, so the angst is really building now.

Tim said...

Has Obama been asked a really tough question in the last 9 years? Other than how can he possibly be so wonderful?

readering said...

Reading Trump's latest tweets. About how wonderful he is and how false the approval rating polls are.

Fernandinande said...

“If we discover that Donald Trump or his advocates played a role to help provide strategy — if they’re the ones who came up with ‘Crooked Hillary,’ if they’re the ones who came up with, ‘she’s ill, something’s wrong with her energy,’ and the way that he basically described her during the campaign — I think that is something that would put the question squarely on the table whether or not he should be impeached.” - Some 'tard.

Big Mike said...

Well there's no sense in planning to boycott a concert by Springsteen or Bon Jovi or Mellencamp or most of the rest of the people who were st Obama's inauguration but skipping Trump's. You couldn't drag my corpse into one of their shows in a zipped up body bag. And that old commie Seeger is dead.

But what about Garth Brooks? Has he forgotten how many of his fans wear truckers caps? I can't imagine that blowing off the Trump inauguration will affect his upcoming concerts in Cincinnati or Memphis, because those are going to be in the next couple weeks so no doubt they are already sold out. But what about after that?

Be interesting to watch what happens.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Pookie Number 2: Inga's definitely on to something when she notes that the majority of vacuous celebrities supported Obama.

Yep. Big needle-mover that celebritard endorsement is! JUST ASK CHER WHAT WOULD SHE DO. And they way they all made pro-Obamacare videos really helped their credibility. Oh and the way they want to shoot fake guns in every movie but always cut those weepy PSAs to tell us that we are too well armed out in the real America. Not to mention the jet-flying global warmists. Boy Hollywood is full of "do as I say"-isms but pretty short on demonstrable smarts.

Matt Sablan said...

"And it's odd, isn't it?, that @BarackObama speaks of Barack Obama in the third person — President Obama reflects on eight years of progress."

-- In Obama's defense, for some celebrity/politician Twitter accounts, the only times the actual person is tweeting has some notation (like a Tweet signature), the rest of the time you know it is being managed.

And really, Obama doesn't have much else to talk about since farewelling America.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...


"There is also the corrosive effect of tweeting out lies (like John Lewis' district is "in horrible shape and falling apart") which cannot be countered."

An odd complaint from the Golden Shower Left. But delightful.

That's a great post, Althouse. I'm so used to the mendacity of the MSM that I still find myself surprised when I read something so rational and clear-eyed.

Mark said...

Gotta love when the Boomers try to jump on a tech trend and pretend they understand it. It's like when they tried to get on myspace, it was hilarious in retrospect.

Twitter was dying it's last before this newfound celebrity tweeter.

Unknown said...

Ann, agree with your conclusion, but this post is messy.

So you are so 'new media' ? Obviously, you did not actively follow Twitter in the past . This is the whole point of the 'echo chamber.." All us libtards knew @potus was where Obama posted and several articles have appeared in the liberal MSM bemoaning the handing over of @Potus to Trump.

I do not dispute that Trump is better at Tweeting, but this post reads like Althouse made up her mind before actually doing research.

Try this 'I did not realize that Obama actively posted on @potus until after my initial post. Sorry for my sloppiness. However after looking over these tweets, my conclusion remains the same....'

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Given the brilliance of his tweets, I think we all look forward to Trump's memoirs, hopefully written by himself rather than by some tawdry back-stabbing ghost writer. What vast insights into life must await us when this volume appears.

Original Mike said...

"Has Obama been asked a really tough question in the last 9 years?"

O'Reilly had a clip from Steve Kroft interviewing Obama last night. Kroft asked Obama about his "red line" remark. It flummoxed Obama and Kroft jumps in, mortified. Wish I could remember his exact words but it was along the line of "We done really need to get into this.". Jeez guys, can you get a room?

Original Mike said...

done = don't

FleetUSA said...

Mead was right:

Organize my organ
Activate my organ for organizing
A little girly action
Organize for action

These little snippets add spice to your wonderful blogging. Your analysis of BH0 is spot on, as usual.

Freder Frederson said...

An odd complaint from the Golden Shower Left. But delightful.

The complaint is from me. Show me where I posted anything about that particular rumor.

You can't.

You are full of shit.

Are we supposed to say nothing when Trump tells outright lies?

Oh yeah, what happened to the information only he knew about the hacking that he was going to release last week?

I can't wait to see his plan for health care that will reduce premiums and deductibles and cover everyone.

Freder Frederson said...

But what about Garth Brooks? Has he forgotten how many of his fans wear truckers caps? I can't imagine that blowing off the Trump inauguration will affect his upcoming concerts in Cincinnati or Memphis, because those are going to be in the next couple weeks so no doubt they are already sold out. But what about after that?

Be interesting to watch what happens.


So after all the whining on this blog a couple days ago because someone got "bullied" into backing out of performing at the inauguration, you want to boycott Garth Brooks for turning down an invitation.

Nice consistency.

And as it turns out, Brooks turned down the invitation because he added extra concerts.

CWJ said...

"Let's keep working to keep our economy on a better, stronger course."

There's a whiff of the Soviet around that.

khesanh0802 said...

Boil it down to this: Do Trump's tweets work? Given the results of the election one is forced to say yes. Do Obama's tweets work? Given the results of the past election and the last 4 years of legislation one would be forced to say no. "Pretentious" or "petulant" Obama is too much a narcissist to understand how to connect with everyday people.

@maxedoutmama: I am convinced that Trump's camping promises were an action plan. We will certainly find out in a couple of days. In the back of my mind I have a memory that Trump has had a team working on reversing executive orders since shortly after the election. This.

Sebastian said...

"From realizing marriage equality" SCOTUS decision, touted as a political POTUS accomplishment, by a man who opposed it 8 years ago.

khesanh0802 said...

camping=campaign GD spellcheck!

cubanbob said...

/17/17, 10:24 AM
Freder Frederson said...
An odd complaint from the Golden Shower Left. But delightful.

The complaint is from me. Show me where I posted anything about that particular rumor.

You can't.

You are full of shit.

Are we supposed to say nothing when Trump tells outright lies?

Oh yeah, what happened to the information only he knew about the hacking that he was going to release last week?

I can't wait to see his plan for health care that will reduce premiums and deductibles and cover everyone.

1/17/17, 10:38 AM"

If all that happens is I get the plan I had before ObamaCare that will more than good enough. And speaking of lies where have you been the last eight years?

Seeing Red said...

Well at least it won't be ghost-written by terririst and BFO Ayres.

Sam L. said...

"President Barack Obama on Friday announced the relaunch of his remaining campaign apparatus as a new tax-exempt group called Organizing for Action..."

The Tea Party groups got investigated and delayed and denied by the IRS. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

wildswan said...

Someone (Peter Thiel?) ought to do a manifesto condemning the fascist bullying going against Trump supporters - on campuses or in relation to the Inauguration. Celebrities have mentioned threats to their careers and even death threats. Academics are struggling.

Present this manifesto to Hollywood first - see who refuses to sign. Stand where the Free Speech Movement stood in Berkeley and ask the California legislature to sign it. And the California universities. They won't. The California trifecta will come out against free speech and for fascist bullying and Red Guard shaming. OK, so that is where California which went for Clinton and leads the anti-Trump movement stands. This where Hollywood stands.

Then maybe sort of rolling thunder boycott of movie theaters. Like simply do not go on the first three days when some wannabe blockbuster starring an anti-free speech, Trump-hating celebrity opens. Those three days matter.

Then call for an end to Hollywood tax cuts.

They want us to realize they hate us, so do what they want one last time - realize it. And act on it.

PS: I have to acknowledge that Twitter has an impact which I don't understand. But that the new media as whole won the election for Trump so far as media matters - that I do understand. So the new media will continue to affect the terrain Trump operates in.

Big Mike said...

@Freder, so Brooks is busy covering his ass? This is my amazed face.

Although I, too, have friends in low faces, I prefer Toby Keith anyway. Hope he sings "Made in America."

CWJ said...

cubanbob @ 11:08,

Amen to that brother!

Anonymous said...

Ya gotta tweet like Trump to be a good President.

traditionalguy said...

Trump's John Lewis Twitter Duel is turning out to favor DJT. How did he ever do that?

Lewis is my Congressman. He has nothing to do except mumble a few words about the struggle. And that is all we expect.

Our District is now over 60% White, but we will NEVER vote him out. His dues were paid forever in the late 1960s. Way overpaid. Yankees might not understand us, but Lewis has a deeper connection to hearts and minds of Southerners than Trump will ever attain.

Biff said...

For me, one of the most annoying parts of the 2008 campaign was the manic "OMG! Have you seen? Obama is on twitter! He's so awesome!" that I kept hearing from people who should've known better. Of course, the overwhelming majority of "his" tweets were written by campaign staff, but that didn't stop people from thinking that they had a direct line into the mind of the candidate. I also recall the crushing disappointment that many of his supporters felt when "he" stopped tweeting as soon as the election was over. (The account eventually was reactivated by what became OFA.) At the time, a friend of mine said that reading the last 2008 tweet was like hearing a guy say, "I'll call you," after a one night stand. My friend, and many others, I'm sure, rationalized it by saying, "Of course, he is too busy to tweet, now that he is President!"

Matt said...

Yes because Tweeting is the most important thing a president ever does.... Good grief. It's pretty obvious that someone on the Obama team tweets and not Obama. He and his team use Twitter the way an intelligent adult who is President of the United States uses Twitter - not like some child with a thin skinned ego.

Ron said...

"We liked the straight talk."

Trump must be as skilled at persuasion as everyone says, if he can get so many people to talk about his "straight talk", after all his many ambiguous tweets, obfuscations and contradictions.

Ann Althouse said...

On the subject of whether I knew about @POTUS, I was already following it, so I was seeing it as it came up every day it posted. It didn't make enough of an impression on me that I considered it in writing this post initially. It's a PR feed from the White House, not a personal voice.

If Obama were tweeting there at the level I consider to be real, I would have known.

I think I've followed it as long as it's been around.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Golden Shower Left refers to a mindset and worldview that you unquestionably share, Freder. Embrace it.

Michael K said...

He and his team use Twitter the way an intelligent adult who is President of the United States uses Twitter - not like some child with a thin skinned ego.

I am so sorry that your candidate, Hillary, was such a crappy candidate and a thief and a liar.

Michael K said...

And as it turns out, Brooks turned down the invitation because he added extra concerts.

Such courage ! I'm sure he will have time for them in the future. Especially songs like "gunslinger."

Barry Dauphin said...

Trump and Obama should play a series of televised golf matches. Money raised through commercials and bets would go toward the national debt. Make America golf again!

Paco Wové said...

I always thought of Freder as part of the Wet Diaper Left.

Unknown said...

Ann one final point that I wish would generate one of your pointed contrarian "Also" or "Updated' was the Tweeted shout-out and photo of FLOTUS on her birthday on the same day as your post. A great photo and sincere love. Did you see this and dismiss it or was his tweet after your perusal of @POTUS? Of course you could always argue that your post pushed him to raise his game. I think your post about the power of Trump's tweets was absolutely on target, but that your dismissal of Obams's tweets was in many was inaccurate and quite frankly a cheap shot. BTW the MSM totally gushed over the FLOTUS tweet.