WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama ratcheted up the Congressional pressure game on the debt ceiling Friday by penning a tweet to urge Americans to contact their members of Congress — then sending out a stream of tweets from his account publishing the Twitter handles for GOP members in each state.
“The time for putting party first is over,” his tweet read. “If you want to see a bipartisan #compromise, let Congress know. Call. Email. Tweet. -BO.”
The president used his campaign handle @BarackObama, normally monitored and written by campaign staff, to make his case.
Afterward, his campaign staff continued the pressure, beginning a long series of tweets publishing the Twitter handles for GOP members in each state, beginning alphabetically.
“You heard the President. So here’s what we’re doing: throughout the day we’ll post the Twitter handles of GOP lawmakers in each state,” the next @BarackObama tweet read.
“Tweet at your Republican legislators and urge them to support a bipartisan compromise to the debt crisis. Alaska voters: Tweet @lisamurkowski and ask her to compromise on a balanced deficit solution,” the tweets continued.
But the tactic may have backfired with social media tracking company Simply Measured estimating the president lost almost 37,000 Twitter followers Friday, presumably because of the frequent tweeting, tech news website Mashable reported.
And according to The National Journal a number of Republican senators on Twitter benefited from the exposure. In total, Republican senators added about 6,500 new followers Friday afternoon.
“Thanks @BarackObama for pushing @RoyBlunt over 11,000 followers today!” tweeted Amber Marchand, communications director for Sen. Roy Blunt, (R-Mo.).
The last time Obama urged Americans to get involved, during his address to the nation Monday, Capitol Hill switchboards blew up and some Congressional websites crashed.
The president sent that message again Friday in his White House remarks over the stalemate on Capitol Hill “Now, on Monday night, I asked the American people to make their voice heard in this debate, and the response was overwhelming,” he said. “So please, to all the American people, keep it up. If you want to see a bipartisan compromise — a bill that can pass both houses of Congress and that I can sign — let your members of Congress know. Make a phone call. Send an email. Tweet. Keep the pressure on Washington, and we can get past this.”
The White House said after the president’s nudging of public involvement Monday, their own communications traffic increased, but didn’t cause any problems. “At this end of Pennsylvania Avenue, we’ve noticed a bump in messages from Americans – email is coming in at nearly 5 times the normal rate,” a White House blog read.
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