Republicans Hijack Obama Twitter Town Hall

Republicans tried to send a direct message to President Barack Obama during his first-ever Twitter town hall by crashing the event with a flurry of comments on the social networking site.

Twitter users were able to directly ask the president any question they wanted as long as they stayed within the 140-character limit.
Obama started the questioning himself, as he stood behind a laptop in the East Room of the White House.

“In order to reduce the deficit what costs would you cut and what investments would you keep — bo,” he wrote, staying within the 140 character limit.

The first question came from William Smith, a so-called conservative blogger from New Hampshire who asked the president if he should have done anything differently to aid the economy. In response, President Obama said he should have better explained the timing of an economic recovery and do more to aid the housing market recovery.

Smith told the International Business Times Obama didn't answer his question.

Now that I've listened to the answer again, I'd say no. Obama essentially said, I should have told people it was going to be worse.

Republicans, seeking to capitalize on the event in advance of its starting, flooded Twitter with a litany of politically-charged questions critiquing the president’s handling of the economic recovery.

“With 9.1% unemployment & ’shovel ready’ jobs a bust, will you admit the ’stimulus’ was a mistake?” House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, tweeted.

To that Obama tweeted, Tax cuts & other measures Republicans opposed helped growth, so did some cooperative initiatives.

U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., budget chairman blasted the president, and questioned his jobs plan.

#AskObama Senate hasn't passed a budget in 798 days. House passed plan 2 lift debt&spur job creation–what is your jobs plan?” Ryan said.