Hope and Fail

Now Obama says he uses his Twitter account … though his thumbs are probably still clumsy

A little more than six months ago, President Obama told students in China that he’s “never used Twitter” because his thumbs are too clumsy, which was a surprise to the millions of those who follow @barackobama.

Today he’s changed his tune. The president not only is on “Twitters,” he joked that it could replace the legendary red phones that connected the White House to the Kremlin during the Cold War.

Here’s what he told the Chinese in November after a question about whether citizens of the communist nation should be allowed to use Twitter:

Well, first of all, let me say that I have never used Twitter. I noticed that young people — they’re very busy with all these electronics. My thumbs are too clumsy to type in things on the phone. But I am a big believer in technology and I’m a big believer in openness when it comes to the flow of information.

And today during a press conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev:

I appreciated very much the opportunity to hear President Medvedev’s vision for modernization in Russia, especially high-tech innovation. This is a personal passion of the President. And during his visit to Silicon Valley this week, he visited the headquarter of Twitters [sic], where he opened his own account. I have one as well, so we may be able to finally throw away those “red phones” that have been sitting around for so long.

Does this mean the president does use his Twitter account and it’s not operated by a staffer at the DNC (since he called it “Twitters,” I would guess not)? Or is he just lying, as he did about his iPod? If so, one can only hope the intern at Organizing for America’s HQ has security clearance to handle whatever messages Medvedev might send his way.