To Tweet Or Not To Tweet

White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, joined the Twitter world this week. PressSec is his Twitter name. On Saturday, his first tweet (on his official White House account) was the following: “Learning about ‘the twitter’ – easing into this with first tweet – any tips?” Within hours, he had almost 7,000 followers. Fellow Tweeters should be forewarned. Because Gibbs’ account is set up through the White House, comments and messages received are subject to the Presidential Records Act and may be archived. Gibbs decided to join Twitter while watching a twitter feed when President Obama visited the briefing room last week. He said he “thought it was fascinating to watch and see what people were thinking, doing, and writing.” “You know,” Gibbs added, “plus I’ve got all this free time on my hands!”

Is this an indication of what is really going on in Washington? Shouldn’t our “public servants” be “serving the public” rather than tweeting? With cell and BlackBerry phones to send/receive calls and text messages as well as check e-mails, Facebook, Twitter, and other Internet sites, when are our elected officials “officiating”? Will we have to check electronic devices in the future to find out if the economy is improving, if unemployment is increasing or decreasing, or if the terrorists have attacked? I think it is time for the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of our government to start “executing,” “legislating,” and “judicialing” instead of playing games with phones. (Note: I know “judicialing” is not a word!)

I haven’t joined Twitter. My computer time is already filled with checking e-mail, researching genealogy, reading FaceBook, and writing a blog. Also, tweets are limited to 140 characters, and I would find it difficult to express my profound opinions within that parameter. I already do a good job of boring my readers with my daily blogs. I don’t need to give them my thoughts every minute. I’ll leave tweeting to the Washington bureaucrats and be content to listen to Rico’s tweets. His tweets are not subject to the Presidential Records Act.