Obama in Haiku: Real-Time Twitter Updates of the President’s Speech

If you weren’t able to tune in last night to listen to President Obama’s Tucson speech, the Editor-in-Chief of the National Journal has you covered: he live-tweeted updates from the speech as-it-happened last night. The result is a series of haiku-like snippets that capture the essence of the President’s speech.

Ron Fournie, Editor-in-Chief of the National Journal, decided to use Twitter to analyze the President’s speech in response to the January 8th shooting in Arizona. While the traditional media is writing pages abut Obama’s power and ability to remain calm in the center of an agitated nation, Fournie offers his own analysis a-la 140-character insights.

Paraphrasing some of what Obama says and injecting his own thoughts and analysis every few tweets, Fournie is able to convey the meaning of this speech in 22 bite-sized tweets. Here are some of our top picks:

“Like past presidents in tragic times, Obama looks to heal nation from a calm center.”

“In one of the biggest speeches of his presidency, Obama urges an aching country to look forward, not backward.”

“Rather than recrimination and polarization, Obama says Americans should “expand our moral imaginations” to solve problems.”

“He used the word “hope” (or a variation) 8 times. Not just part of Obama’s 2008 campaign, Hope is a key ingredient of the American story.”

You can read the entire Twitter analysis of the President’s speech at the NationalJournal.com.

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