Even though President Obama has offered up just one “tweet” for his 947,000 followers since taking office, the Twitter ruling is in - his first 100 days have been a resounding success.
A random sample of Twitter users engaged in political news mirrored a broader national trend of patience for the new president and a belief that the media exaggerate Mr. Obama’s problems.
“Obama is our first modern multitasker president,” user SteveBeste wrote on Twitter. “I give him an A for bringing a new sanity to domestic and foreign policy.”
“Why oh why do these people seem to think Obama should have everything fixed in 4 months?” opined Jclipscomb0518.
The most common praise on the social-networking Web site came on the topic of restoring the U.S. image abroad.
“Levitated USA back to credible leader of the free world,” user Altakocker wrote via Twitter, rating Mr. Obama with an “A+” and getting in under the microblogging service’s 140-character limit.
The brevity of Twitter limits in-depth conversation about Mr. Obama’s performance, but offers a gauge of to-the-point thoughts on the early benchmark of his presidency.
“Been remarkable; shown restraint, leadership, intelligence, accomplishes goals, doesn’t play tit for tat, gets an A,” Misha1234 offered in a tweet.
“I give him a B,” wrote Shaijinx. “Stim spending not big enough, love the tax cut, great job overseas and with pirates, bad on spying.”
(Corrected graph:) FryDave said he got what he expected from Mr. Obama: “Intelligence, rationalism, courage.”
Criticism focused on Mr. Obama’s personnel mistakes - from his nominees such as former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle dropping out owing to unpaid taxes or others, such as Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, getting confirmed despite his problem with taxes.
Others said Mr. Obama’s team did a poor job of vetting, said he has picked “inept” Cabinet members and has failed to communicate his policy for the bank crisis.
“I give Obama a B. It’d be an A but for serious and unexpected nominee drama,” wrote Showmeeats.
Charlesdthomas dinged Mr. Obama for what he considers “dissing USA to Europeans” and gave him low marks on the wars, national security and stimulus plan, but allowed an “A” grade for the president’s handling of the Somali pirates standoff.
Comoannie said Mr. Obama is 80 percent right on priorities, but “too cozy with Wall St.,” and LauriCroce gave the president an A-minus, saying the administration is “too concerned with politics” and re-election concerns.
Dgiant gave the president an A-minus for having “re-established strained foreign relations,” adding, “He’s doing what I voted for.”
“A+ - Obama has had unprecedented challenges and has attacked them with reasoning & resolve,” wrote Janeco.
Another found him “Refreshingly steady”; yet another said Mr. Obama is “swimming upstream on some issues.”
Mediagadfly told her Twitter followers Mr. Obama deserves an “A+. Accomplished a lot domestically/internationally, gave left sufficient impetus to remain active/organized,” but Sahyder1, who rates the president highly, suggested that “POTUS needs to utilize facebook and twitter more to get support for programs.”
So while his “Tweeps” await the next 140-character bit of news from the president, Mr. Obama is keeping the American people engaged in other ways. He’s invited them into the White House literally and figuratively and is asking them to knock on doors for his agenda.
The traditional presidential weekly radio address has evolved to a YouTube address, and the majority of Obama events are streamed at WhiteHouse.gov.
Obama supporters have been greeted with e-mails from his former campaign at least 17 times in his first 100 days in office.
He’s also invited people to use the Internet to track his administration - soliciting questions for an “online” town hall and allowing families from across the country for the first time to access tickets to the annual White House Easter Egg roll.
The newly formed Organizing for America is using campaign tools to bring people together across the country for canvasses in support of the president’s $3.6 trillion budget plan.
Geneva Clark of Cincinnati, an active campaign volunteer, has remained involved by sending e-mails on behalf of the Obama agenda and talking to her friends, neighbors and co-workers.
Marie Engles of Springboro, Ohio, has called on her local politicians to ask them to support Mr. Obama’s budget. She also has written her own network on unrelated matters, urging them to write letters to the New York Post about a cartoon she found offensive or to vote in online polls ranking the president’s performance.
Some said they are tired of getting e-mail solicitations from the campaign apparatus, saying they want a break from fundraising since Mr. Obama won the election. Others have applauded the communication.
“The first thing that I believe Obama has done well in the first 100 days is capitalize on the young Americans who have been recruited into the political process by his campaign,” said Jamie Vernon, who ran a precinct in Austin, Texas. “I was always just an observer of politics … after listening to his speech with 21,000 other Austinites, I was motivated to get involved.”
