Obama’s Twitter plan backfires
“Build it and they will come,” but they may also trash the place, is an accurate axiom for anything online, President Barack Obama is learning.
AttackWatch.com seems to do plenty of attacking itself.
The president, whose campaign launched a website to track and rebuff anti-Obama attacks, encouraged his supporters to take it to the Tweets with an #attackwatch hashtag, but the Twitterverse is comprised of a much more politically diverse, and perhaps cruel, crowd than the last time he ran for office.
The hashtag has been taken over by comedians who seem content to mock and ridicule, says a Wall Street Journal blog.
Those with a conservative bent have been drawn to the hashtag as though it were a tax-and-spend flame:
@Drill_Thrawl Hey Kids, are mommy and daddy talking bad about Obama? Be sure to report them at #attackwatch #1984
@gregmcrc … check this=9% unemployment, no green jobs, 49 million uninsured, 1 in 6 Americans in poverty
#AttackWatch If you want to really upset a megalomaniacal wannabe dictator, just mock him via social media.
@bonnie1b: Jobless claims jump to 448,000 #attackwatch
Jimmy Carter must be feeling good knowing he’s no longer the worst president in U.S. history. #attackwatch
AttackWatch.com is similar to a “Fight The Smears” site Obama unleashed during his 2008 campaign, says The International Business Times, which says the new site has “become a laughingstock.”
Conservative talk show hosts are getting in on the act, including Neal Boortz (aka @talkmaster):
@attackwatch, you can tell me just how much money Obama thinks I should make. Don’t want to exceed his limit, you understand.
I don’t claim to be an expert on politics, but “control the message” has to be a basic tenet of campaigning. Unleashing the #attackwatch hashtag on an embittered public doesn’t seem wise.
I speak from experience, just read the comments below. 
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
239 comments Add your comment
resno2
September 15th, 2011
12:39 pm
I stand: You are exactly right! Congress runs America, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Bush have a Congress that was controlled by DEMOCRATS?
resno2
September 15th, 2011
12:43 pm
let me be the first to say… PRESENT!
innocent bystander
September 15th, 2011
12:44 pm
Ron Burgundy…I think I love you!
jesse
September 15th, 2011
12:46 pm
LEAVE HIM ALONE LET HIM DO HIS JOD DON” HATE
Patrick Romano WAR DAMN EAGLE
September 15th, 2011
12:46 pm
Hopefully, none of this BS will amount to anything once, The Solar trail leads back to him/WH & Immelman with GE, his ace booncoon yucking it up with Michelle won’t help him either. Politics make strange bed fellows and he is knee deep with these Ass kissing bundlers who bought his change/hope bs.
Hopefully, Senate will form a committe to look into Immelman and GE selling our Aircraft Engine secrets to China, (A Communist Country) Economic Czar my butt!!!
Please get here 2012, Hope/Change has turned into more/bigger Gov’t. entitlement run amuck b/c that is what this Admin, wants-not jobs, solcialism…
kgray
September 15th, 2011
12:52 pm
commoncents, I know you love Bush; however, since you are harping about the Congress being majority democrat and they wouldn’t allow him to do anything but block his agendas. Well the new Republican Congress ran on the premise of getting this country back to work, well we see that hasn’t happen. Also, I have never been a bank teller, I came into the bank as a personal banker. I’m sure with your trailer park living that seems almost foreign that a person can go into a job as middle management. However, I have some degrees behind my name BA and MPA and what about yourself?
Miles
September 15th, 2011
12:54 pm
People want less govt, lower taxes, and for the federal govt to fix all of our domestic problems. The world’s economies are imploding (US, Europe, Greece, Italy) and countries are asking China to save them by buying govt bonds (China already owns the most US Treasury Bonds at $1.2 Trillion*). President GW Bush added $3T to our National Debt (the most of any US President), banks are failing, private companies aren’t hiring, non-profit and school fundings are drying up, unemployment and housing foreclosures are drastically high, the US Credit Rating was downgraded, and everyone is saying another recession is looming (and possibly a depression in Europe). It’s easy to point out the problems and say one person (Obama) is the source and doesn’t understand any of this (or our plight – whatever that means) but as I sit here typing into this little blog, I can’t fathom what “ideas” our President needs to come up with to get us back to the glory old days. It’s going to be a long, painful road whether it’s Obama, Ron Paul, or the Wizard of Oz driving the bus. If you bloggers have the silver bullet that can fix all this, don’t post it on this blog but run for office, contact your local representative, or start a company and create jobs yourself. Action like our founding fathers not finger pointing and complaining like a bunch of 3 years old, otherwise your new Communist, Chinese boss will be arriving soon. Go America!
*http://www.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/tic/Documents/mfh.txt
Jed
September 15th, 2011
12:54 pm
Went to their website and they just want my money.
Hacks.
I was just trying to protected our “dear leader” from all the hateful attacks out there. All those meanies with their mean words. Really, they should all be tagged and entered into some database, or sent to concentration camps or something.
On a serious note: Who can logically defend this kind of thing?
Patrick Romano WAR DAMN EAGLE
September 15th, 2011
12:56 pm
Check that Socialism, Green Jobs has backfired and will lead right back to Obama, 1/2 a billion dollars to a Co. that the Bush Admin denied these loans to and Obama pushed regulators to rush without due dilligence (as backed up by OPM emails) all You bleeding heart liberals who wanted this yahoo in the office and wanted All of these entitilement programs hopefully realize that it ain’t working for three years and will not work, all Obama is doing is trying scare tactics about roads/infrastructures to get his bundler’s the contracts to rebuild America with the reinvestment act.
To those who say, quit hating–let him do his job, his job is Not to run this country into the ground and break Every Constitutional law out there. For instance, I would rather him focus on Green jobs and not send 26 Federal agents armed to the hilt to harass Gibson guitars hq for allegedly using endagered wood for their guitars, when the owner didhis due dilligence to make good and damn sure they did everything by the book…
Get a life and get this clown out of office and Eric Holder, don’t even get me started about that criiminal. Bottom line a fish stinks fromt he head down, and something’s rotten in WH and Martha’s Vineyard…
Seatac
September 15th, 2011
12:58 pm
Hmmm, can’t say anything bad about the President, not allowed to have anything that says “Christmas” during the Christmas season, what will be next? Sounds like nazi Germany.