Obama on Reddit: What President Obama Said in His Ask Me Anything

Impact

Ask him anything, in AMA format. But make sure you have enough karma points to be heard, and make sure you use the right reddiquite so you don’t get booted from the chat thread.

Have no idea what I’m talking about? Then you’re probably not familiar with Reddit, the self-proclaimed “front page of the internet.”

The Washington Post reports:

President Barack Obama participated in a surprise open question-and-answer session this afternoon on the Web community Reddit — under the alias PresidentObama — as the subject of one of the site’s regular “Ask Me Anything” threads.Reddit’s site experienced some outages immediately following the announcement, due to increased traffic. Users reported they were having trouble logging into the site as the session began and it’s been almost impossible to access the thread, which is on top of Reddit’s home page, since.Reddit announced that the president would be fielding questions starting at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday as part of his campaign stop in Charlottesville, Va.The thread follows remarks he made at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion as part of his swing-state tour of college campuses. As the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner reported, Obama visited Iowa State University in Ames on Tuesday and Colorado State in Fort Collins earlier this week.

The thread appears as follows:

Here's what it looks like

Here's a commet by President Obama: Re: Internet freedom

Obama again, Re: Space funding:

More Obama, Re: his job:

Obama, Re: Monied interests: 

And this: 

Update: 5:25 PM: He's done, btw:

last sent 8 mins ago

[–]gobearss 160 points 1 hour ago (286|129)

It's hard - truthfully the main thing other than work is just making sure that I'm spending enough time with michelle and the girls. The big advantage I have is that I live above the store - so I have no commute! So we make sure that when I'm in DC I never miss dinner with them at 6:30 pm - even if I have to go back down to the Oval for work later in the evening. I do work out every morning as well, and try to get a basketball or golf game in on the weekends just to get out of the bubble. Speaking of balance, though, I need to get going so I'm back in DC in time for dinner. But I want to thank everybody at reddit for participating - this is an example of how technology and the internet can empower the sorts of conversations that strengthen our democracy over the long run. AND REMEMBER TO VOTE IN NOVEMBER - if you need to know how to register, go to Gottaregister.com. By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole reddit experience - NOT BAD!

the not bad is referencing this:

 

 

Here was the best question and answer: 

QUESTION: I am recent law school graduate. Despite graduating from a top school, I find myself unemployed with a large student loan debt burden. While I'm sure my immediate prospects will improve in time, it's difficult to be optimistic about the future knowing that my ability to live a productive life -- to have a fulfilling career, to buy a house, to someday raise a family -- is hampered by my debt and the bleak economic outlook for young people. I know that I'm not alone in feeling this way. Many of us are demoralized. Your 2008 campaign was successful in large part due to the efforts of younger demographics. We worked for you, we campaigned for you, and we turned out in record numbers to vote for you. What can I say to encourage those in similar situations as I am to show up again in November? What hope can you offer us for your second term? 

OBAMA: I understand how tough it is out there for recent grads. You're right - your long term prospects are great, but that doesn't help in the short term. Obviously some of the steps we have taken already help young people at the start of their careers. Because of the health care bill, you can stay on your parent's plan until you're twenty six. Because of our student loan bill, we are lowering the debt burdens that young people have to carry. But the key for your future, and all our futures, is an economy that is growing and creating solid middle class jobs - and that's why the choice in this election is so important. The other party has two ideas for growth - more taxs cuts for the wealthy (paid for by raising tax burdens on the middle class and gutting investments like education) and getting rid of regulations we've put in place to control the excesses on wall street and help consumers. These ideas have been tried, they didnt work, and will make the economy worse. I want to keep promoting advanced manufacturing that will bring jobs back to America, promote all-American energy sources (including wind and solar), keep investing in education and make college more affordable, rebuild our infrastructure, invest in science, and reduce our deficit in a balanced way with prudent spending cuts and higher taxes on folks making more than $250,000/year. I don't promise that this will solve all our immediate economic challenges, but my plans will lay the foundation for long term growth for your generation, and for generations to follow. So don't be discouraged - we didn't get into this fix overnight, and we won't get out overnight, but we are making progress and with your help will make more. 

Editor's Note: This story has been updated to properly cite language that was originally used without attribution to The Washington Post. We apologize to our readers for this violation of our basic editorial standards. Mic has put in place new mechanisms, including plagiarism detection software, to ensure that this does not happen in the future.