AFL-CIO, other Dem allies send Obama tough tweets ahead of Twitter town hall
President Obama's political adversaries aren't the only ones using today's "Twitter town hall" to ask the president tough questions.
Groups that typically align with Democrats, like the labor union organization the AFL-CIO, are using the event to press the president on a variety of issues from job creation to foreign policy.
Using the standard hash tag #AskObama, the AFL-CIO this morning posed the simple question, "Where are the jobs?" Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner quickly began re-tweeting the question.
The American Civil Liberties Union asked the president, "Will you honor those in gov't & military who opposed Bush torture policy?" The group linked to an article on its site calling on the president to honor whistleblowers who it says exposed the use and authorization of torture by the United States. The ACLU has in the past urged the administration to investigate members of the Bush administration for authorizing so-called enhanced interrogation techniques.
P.J. Crowley, the former State Department spokesman who resigned this year after criticizing the treatment of accused Wikileaks leaker Pfc. Bradley Manning, posed a tough question for the president regarding the Middle East uprisings: "#AskObama, having said #Qaddafi lost his legitimacy for attacking his people, given #Syria's crackdown, at what point does #Assad lose his?"
A variety of organizations that advocate for reproductive rights, such as Planned Parenthood, are retweeting a question from the group Raising Women's Voices that presses the president on extending his health care reforms. Mr. Obama's health care reforms included a provision to make preventive care free for patients, but these groups say that policy should include contraceptives. "Pls, RT! Women shouldnt have to pay xtra for preventive healthcare. Will u tell insurers to drop copays 4 contraception?"
Meanwhile, the conservation organization the World Wildlife Fund asks Mr. Obama, "How many Yellowstone River and Gulf oil spills will it take before you halt plans to drill in inhospitable Arctic waters?"
