President Barack Obama bends Twitter Rules

(CBS/AP) - It was a Twitter-based town hall meeting. But President Barack Obama doesn't talk in Twitter-sized, 140 character sound bites.

So how did that work out?

When Obama took questions at a town hall forum held on Twitter yesterday, the answers he gave to the 18 questions he fielded ran well beyond the limit.

For example, his first answer about his handling of the economy, yielded 2,300 characters - well above the 140 mark. At another point, Obama said: "I know, Twitter, I'm supposed to be short."

The White House had already put observers on notice that the 140-character limit might not apply to the president. Said spokesman Jay Carney: "He's the leader of the free world. He decides how short his answers will be."