Obama address sparks YouTube debate

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Obama weekly address sparks lively debate on YouTube
2 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President Barack Obama, as promised, put his first weekly address from the White House on YouTube on Saturday, sparking a raucous debate in the comments section of the video-sharing site.

The five-minute video, in which Obama promoted his economic stimulus plan, had drawn more than 210,000 views and 1,000 comments some 12 hours after it was released on the White House YouTube channel at youtube.com/user/whitehouse.

The video of Obama's first weekly address since being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday was also available on the official White House website, whitehouse.gov.

~snip~
A number of viewers debated the merits of the 825-billion-dollar stimulus plan with some accusing Obama of being a "socialist."

There were a few overtly racist remarks and an oddly high number of comments from users purporting to be Italian.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iuaG...

[BulletproofLandshark]

1. I'm not sure I'd call the comments section on YouTube "debate".

It's mostly trolling, spamming, and flame wars where anything remotely political is concerned.

[Steepler0t]

2. Very true

Youtube comments are almost as filled with racists and uselss flamerwars as yahoo news comments used to be.

[Wetzelbill]

4. kind of like DU in an election year

I'm a dead man.

[Kittycat]

7. ..

[rationalcalgarian]

12. To paraphrase (badly):

It was once said that a million monkeys typing on a million typewriters would eventually produce the complete works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to YouTube, we know that is not true.

[Posteritatis]

18. Nah, that's 4chan. Youtube shows us that one can occasionally be trained or something

... Great, now I'm picturing Obama posting his presidential addresses on 4chan.

I don't want my mind's eye anymore.

[Cha]

20. Yeah, little trolls with nothing

better to do than anonymously, broadcast their ignorance.

[rcrush]

3. I didnt think they would open up their videos for comments.

I thought they would have just assumed any comments they get on youtube are spam and flames.

[Wetzelbill]

6. they probably shouldn't

High level political things like that get ugly quick.

[Posteritatis]

17. And that makes the ugly-makers look like morons for all to see

That's fine by me. It's not like the average Youtube comments section is that much worse than the call-ins on talk radio or any thread on Free Republic involving a foreign country.

[Pirate Smile]

5. The "an oddly high number of comments from users purporting to be Italian" comment cracks me up

because that kind of weird thing just seems to happen on The Tubes.

[cosmicone]

8. Sopranos or Corleones? hahahaha n/t

[annabanana]

9. Burlesconi & puppets, no doubtl. . .n/t

[OswegoAtheist]

10. A lot of DUers were "Canadian" during *'s pResidency...

...so maybe the FReepers are pretending to be Italian?

Oswego "and George W. Bush must be tried for war crimes" Atheist

[Judi Lynn]

11. I think a lot of freeps pretend to be living in other countries, hoping we'll be less inclined to

question them, and more respectful of their views when they launch right-wing assaults on Democrats, or Democratic beliefs.

I've seen it for years: people claiming to be foreign born, living in their own countries attacking Democrats, democratic principles on message boards, raving, howling, carping from clearly perceptible right-wing positions. It always gets your attention when you have to ask yourself, "Why would someone living in France/Italy/Germany/England sound exactly like an uneducated, xenophobic, slow-learning, mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging racist bigot from the U.S.?"

[BobTheSubgenius]

14. Some of us...

...are still Canadians.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

13. Is the news media just NOW discovering the wonderful world of Youtube comments?

[LibDemAlways]

15. How convenient. There are plenty of choice comments

left on every YouTube video of the chimp, but the media certainly hasn't bothered to report them. The corporate whores' devotion to protecting Bush's ass and whitewashing his crimes is the greatest untold story of the past eight years.

[illuminaughty]

16. OK, I just read the comments. Yes, there are many

from Italians. But, those are NOT the racist remarks. To the contrary. There are dozens of glowing remarks from Italians saying that Obama is a gift to the world..why can't they have him?...that Berlusconi has robbed them of their democracy...Bravo America...forza Presidente (which is the same as if you say "Go, team" in English"

They are wonderful remarks because it was apparently translated on website (don't know, they just said thanks for the translation)

You have to understand in Italy it is Sex, Food, Politics...but not necessarily in that order. They live and breathe world events and political discussion. But that last sentence in article does not make it clear that there were racist remarks AND there were a lot of Italian posters.

[ogneopasno]

19. Well, here's another non-news story. Thanks, AFP!

[yellowcanine]

21. It took God 7 days to create the earth AND he wasn't having to fix other peoples screw ups."

I think I have a new sig line.