President Obama Holds a Townhall with Facebook
By Peter Nicholas, Washington Bureau
April 20, 2011, 8:05 p.m.
Reporting from Palo Alto—
Hoping to rekindle excitement among younger voters, President Obama spoke at a town-hall meeting hosted by Facebook on Wednesday and asked for help in beating back "radical" Republican budget proposals.
He sat on a stage next to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who served as moderator and funneled largely friendly questions to a president who makes extensive use of social media in reaching out to voters.
Zuckerberg confessed to being nervous, but the two bantered easily. Obama made a light reference to the 26-year-old’s billionaire status. In describing his tax plan, Obama said that he and "frankly, you, Mark," can afford to pay "a little more in taxes."
Taking questions submitted through Facebook and from an audience of company employees, Obama advised listeners not to get frustrated by protracted debates in Washington. He conceded that some of his 2008 voters might be asking why progress on many issues hasn’t come sooner. But he urged them not to give up on his agenda.
"I know that some of you who might have been involved in the campaign or been energized back in 2008, you’re frustrated that, gosh, it didn’t get done fast enough and it seems like everybody’s bickering all the time," he said. "Just remember that we’ve been through tougher times before."
Obama arrived in California on Wednesday for a two-day swing that will combine town-hall meetings with private appearances at high-dollar Democratic fundraising events.
On Wednesday night, he attended a pair of fundraisers at which guests paid up to the legal limit of $38,500. Proceeds were to be split between the Obama campaign operation and the Democratic National Committee.
Young voters seemed a special focus of Obama’s Facebook visit. He won election three years ago with help from throngs of young volunteers. Polls show that young voters still support him, but their enthusiasm has waned.
Last weekend, thousands of young activists came to Washington for an environmental conference, where they studied some of the organizing techniques Obama employed in his last campaign. They plan to use such methods to persuade the president to support clean-energy alternatives to nuclear power, natural gas and so-called clean coal.
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Loved it Good to see our young people actually are as smart as we think. They actually research, read adn get the facts. Great questions.