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AMA with Barack Obama

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Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#221

Post by fr0sty »

jbooth wrote: post #201
fr0sty wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He answered questions on these topics: 1. Space Race 2. Internet Freedom 3. Favorite Basketball Player 4. Small-Business tax breaks 5. First Activity on Nov 7 6. Most Difficult Decision 7. Money in Politics 8. White House Beer Recipe 9. Jobs 10. Work/Life Balance Hard hitting stuff there

What would you have asked? Those are all pretty topical this particular election season. Any 10 questions seem inadequate for a president, no? Also, he brought up Afghanistan on his own in response to the 'hardest decision' question. That's not exactly a fluff answer.

They are largely boilerplate answers to softball questions. Nothing you couldn't get from listening to a White House press conference.

Questions about the state of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Egypt, et al would have been more interesting. Characterizing sending more troops as a hard decision is not too surprising.

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#222

Post by Wingman4l7 »

boredguy8 wrote: post #206

I was really hoping he'd respond to the law school student along these lines: "Well, where in your class did you graduate, and why did you think you'd have job prospects as a lawyer? Unless you're in the top 1/3 of your class at a good law school or top 5% of your class at an OK school, getting a job is hard in today's market. Part of the reason law school (and school in general) is so expensive is because we've remo…

This redditor's reply to that student was along the lines of what you were looking for:

"Unfortunately you went to law school at a time when the job market for your prospective field was wildly oversaturated. I don't really feel like you can blame any politicians for that one. Best of luck finding a job, though."[1]

[1]: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#223

Post by marcamillion »

revorad wrote: post #38
untog wrote: post #30

Can't wait for the top post to be another asinine "comment phrased as a question" about legalising marijuana! Joking aside, I predict disappointment. Reddit users will want hard-hitting answers, Obama will definitely not give them (already the internet freedom question has been fluffy-answered). In all honestly, no-one should expect anything else- the POTUS is not going to unveil new thoughts and strategies through R…

The President of United States is doing a Reddit AMA and all you can do is predict disappointment ? Really? Why bother? If you're wrong, your comment will seem too negative and cynical (which it is). If you're right, well, that'd be disappointing, right? Comments like yours make me want to rename this site Hater News.

This.

People can be so cynical and unappreciative. It's easy to get caught up in the now and take the little things for granted.

President Obama's predecessor didn't use EMAIL!!!!

Now Obama is taking questions on Reddit.

It's all about perspective. His use of technology is completely different than yours. There are so many ramifications for everything he says and does. You can't imagine living in a world like that - very few can, because very few will.

So just take a deep breath and enjoy the entertainment.

This is just a cool way to suck the air out of the RNC convention news cycle.

Stroke of (political) genius, if you asked me.

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#224

Post by jbooth »

fr0sty wrote: post #221
jbooth wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would you have asked? Those are all pretty topical this particular election season. Any 10 questions seem inadequate for a president, no? Also, he brought up Afghanistan on his own in response to the 'hardest decision' question. That's not exactly a fluff answer.

They are largely boilerplate answers to softball questions. Nothing you couldn't get from listening to a White House press conference. Questions about the state of Iraq, Syria, Libya, Iran, Egypt, et al would have been more interesting. Characterizing sending more troops as a hard decision is not too surprising.

Ok, but all you're gonna get from him on foreign relations ESPECIALLY is the exact boilerplate that comes out of the state department. There are actually policy reasons to stay boilerplate on that stuff, above and beyond political considerations.

That said, he did come about as close as he could to acknowledging the surge in Afghanistan didn't accomplish much. And he called for a constitutional amendment on Citizen's United, which he apparently hadn't done in public before (according to news outlets trumpeting it).

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#225

Post by twoodfin »

Alex3917 wrote: post #154
hooande wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In all honestly, no-one should expect anything else- the POTUS is not going to unveil new thoughts and strategies through Reddit." If understanding how the world works and telling others makes you a hater, then sign me up.

This reminds me, in Chris Hedges' book War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, there is a great section on why everyone always hates reality-based thinkers. Essentially before and during when the war crimes (or whatever) are being committed, everyone hates the truth-tellers because they think they are wrong and they are challenging their worldview or whatever. And then afterwards, everyone hates the truth-tellers becau…

Michael Moore, truth teller? Ha.

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#226

Post by nikcub »

untog wrote: post #156
FlukeATX wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just want to chime in, it looks like Obama is heading out[1] after answering only ten questions. I think it's fair to call that disappointing when the thread had more than 12,000 comments. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...

Is it? It appears that his AMA was online for maybe 45 minutes. How long should we expect the President of the United States to stay on the site for? Presumably has has other things to do.

> Presumably has has other things to do.

I also have things to do and manage to fit in at least a couple of hours a day on reddit

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#227

Post by noobface »

arrrg wrote: post #211
pav3l wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which further confirms that this whole AMA is a carefully crafted PR stunt.

And? I’m really not sure what you expect. The President has a busy schedule, plus (as the guy running for office) enough money to hire people to do stuff for him. We all nearly always plan what we say and do. The stakes might not be quite so high for us most of the time – but the principle behind it is the same. The only difference is that the President can afford people whom he can delegate some of that planning to.…

If the Woody Harrelson AMA has taught us anything.

Do a legit AMA or don't do one at all.

Although I'm surprised more people aren't calling him out on completely dodging the questions.

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#228

Post by dumb123 »

It makes me wonder what some US politicians wouldn't do for a vote. I'm not in the US at the moment, so I don't know the full extent of what his appearances. But I can only imagine. I know he was recently on Entertainment Tonight. That seemed a little peculiar. Now he's on Reddit. What next?

I'd like to see him do Fear Factor.

If you want my vote Barack, you have to go on Fear Factor. Those are my terms. Non-negotiable.

Re: AMA with Barack Obama

#230

Post by lhnn »

drcube wrote: post #165
FlukeATX wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just want to chime in, it looks like Obama is heading out[1] after answering only ten questions. I think it's fair to call that disappointing when the thread had more than 12,000 comments. [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/z1c9z/i_am_barack_obam...

That's 3 minutes per question, given the half hour he allotted. I don't think that's too disappointing. Did you really expect him to answer 12,000 questions?

I expect the staffers answering the questions to put in some more time, but then that'd ruin the facade.
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