Jack & Jill Politics

Have you seen the special site that the White House has created for the State of the Union? Senior White House officials and the President himself will be using all kinda internets including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to hear from you after the SOTU. BTW, there’s also a cool new (and free, cuz a brother knows you ain’t got the billz stacked like you used to) White House iPhone app you can download.

President Obama released a video over the weekend as a warmup to give a preview of his speech — consider it like a teaser. Basically he’s planning to focus on the subject of why you and/or your cousin Peanut still ain’t got no job and what he plans to do about that. Plus education and innovation so that Peanut’s kids will also have a job someday. Also, he will address the deficit – so we don’t go broke as a nation in the course of the aforementioned Peanut-focused initiatives. Video below.

A standout quote from the video for me:

The fact of the matter is, we’ve got millions of our fellow Americans who are out there struggling every day, don’t have a job or haven’t seen a raise in a long time, paycheck is shrinking at a time when costs are going up.

And so my principal focus, my number one focus, is going be making sure that we are competitive, that we are growing, and we are creating jobs not just now but well into the future.

And that’s what is going to be the main topic of the State of the Union.

I’m focused on making sure the economy is working for everybody, for the entire American family.

So…just to be clear, Barack Obama is aware of your family’s Peanut problem, which is the nation’s Peanut problem, and apparently is working on some kind of plan. You may think me flip but really, unless America solves the Peanut problem — which is under-educated people who are chronically unemployed because they haven’t been trained for the jobs of the future (which is now) — we stand a great risk of losing our long term strength & prosperity as a nation.

It’s Obama’s third SOTU and honestly, I can still say I’m excited. I really appreciate the fact that Obama gets that this is not a one way conversation and that we’re going to have some questionThe White House is keen to provide as many holla back opportunities for you as the President gives the nation a whazzup y’all. I hope you’ll consider watching the SOTU with your family Tues night or checking out the archive afterwards. I also hope you’ll join me in taking the President and his team up on their offer to speak with us online. After all, Obama may be giving us his version of the State of our Union and that’s cool — we should also give him our version of how things look out here.

Here are all the ways this week in which you can talk live online to folks at the White House after the State of the Union address including the Prez himself:

TUESDAY JAN. 25TH

IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

Following the President’s Address, senior White House officials will take your questions about issues covered in the speech live from the White House.

WHITE HOUSE PANEL

Brian Deese: Deputy Director, National Economic Council
Roberto Rodriguez: Special Assistant to the President for Education Policy
David Simas: Director and Aide to the Senior Advisor
Ben Rhodes: Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communications

MODERATORS

Kalpen Modi: White House Office of Public Engagement
Sarah Bernard: White House New Media

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

You can send in questions during the address or throughout the panel.

1. On Twitter: Reply to @whitehouse using the hashtag #sotu
2. On Facebook: Post your questions to the White House wall
3. On http://www.whitehouse.gov/sotu-questions: through the webform

WEDNESDAY JAN. 26TH

@PRESSSEC ANSWERS YOUR TWITTER QUESTIONS

Before Press Secretary Robert Gibbs holds his post-State of the Union press briefing, he’ll answer questions from Twitter.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Follow @PressSec on Twitter, and you’ll know when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will take questions from the public. Then respond to @PressSec using the hashtag #1Q and watch for his video responses.

THURSDAY JAN. 27TH 2:30 P.M. EST

PRESIDENT OBAMA ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

On Thursday, January 27th at 2:30 p.m. EST, President Obama will answer your questions in a live YouTube interview from the White House.

More than 700,000 votes were cast last year on your questions.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Submit your text or video question and vote your favorites to the top. Learn more at youtube.com/askobama

THURSDAY JAN. 27TH

LIVE ROUNDTABLES WITH POLICY EXPERTS

Join online discussions with White House policy experts about issues addressed in the speech through a live roundtable format.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Submit questions during the events at facebook.com/whitehouse or ahead of time with participating sites.

FOREIGN POLICY
Denis McDonough
Deputy National Security Advisor
1 p.m. EST

ECONOMY
Austan Goolsbee
Chairman, Council of
Economic Advisers
11:30 a.m. EST

HEALTH CARE
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
Department of Health and
Human Services
4:30 p.m. EST

EDUCATION
Secretary Arne Duncan
Department of Education
3:15 p.m. EST