First Lady Tries Twitter

With assist from Jay Leno, CNN reporter helps Michelle Obama tweet
By Marie Morris,  Newser Staff
Posted May 3, 2010 6:59 PM CDT
First Lady Tries Twitter
Jay Leno and Michelle Obama at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, at the Washington Hilton Hotel, Saturday, May 1, 2010, in Washington.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

It took five people, but Michelle Obama now knows how to use Twitter. The tale emerges in the wake of the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, aka the "nerd prom," where Jay Leno busted Ed Henry of CNN for tweeting at the head table. That got Obama's attention, but when Henry suggested she take a stab, he writes, "The first lady laughed and said her press staff wouldn't be happy if she went rogue like that."

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs and his boss then got involved. "Hearing the light-hearted argument playing out a few seats down," Henry writes, "the president asked, 'What's going on?' The first lady explained her dilemma, but the president waved his hand as if to say 'no big deal' and told her to go for it." They eventually produced the following: "from flotus: 'here at dinner this is officially my first Tweet. i am looking forward to some good laughs from the potus and jay.'" Hey, one out of two ain't bad.
(More Twitter stories.)

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