The White House announced a 1:00 pm press conference for President Obama to address the S&P credit rating and the market response to it.
News cameras were focused on the empty presidential podium for nearly an hour, leaving plenty of time for Twitter users to pipe up with witty one-liners.
When the president began speaking at about 1:50, Twitter users responded to the falling stock market as Obama attempted to reassure to the country.
@DrewMTips: Obama’s late…where’s @andrewbrietbart when you need him?
@Andrewbreitbart: If he’s not up there in 5 minutes, I’ll have no choice!
@Iowahawkblog: Watch the back door. I think he’s trying to make a run for it.
@TonyFratto: POTUS to announce Tom Hagen is out…things are about to get rough & he needs a wartime consigliere.
@DrewHampshire: The president’s press conference delay is OK as long as he’s killing bin Laden again.
@Ben_Howe: Is there any better symbol for @BarackObama than the empty podium on screen?
@zerohedge: Did Obama quit?
@iyad_elbaghdadi: Waiting for S&P to downgrade Obama for his tardiness.
@todaytrader: Obama will be right out for that 1:00 statement just as soon as he is finished puking in a trash can.
@exjon: 45 min. late? Obama sure knows how to instill confidence.
@markknoller Key soundbite: “No matter what some agency may say,” says Pres Obama, “we’ve always been and always will be – a triple-A country.”
@secupp: Obama sympathy cards are at the printer’s: “You’ll always be AAA-rated to me, America.”
@jrubinblogger: Market is now down to 450- get him out of there!!!
@philipaklein: Shorter Obama: This debt downgrade confirms why all my ideas were right all along.
@tpcarney: At Langan’s in midtown NYC, Obama is playing, and the patrons are repeating “buy gold. buy gold!”
@darrenrovell: Obama talks for 11 minutes. Dow drops another 33 points to 428 point loss.
@thefix: MNSBC has a Dow ticker in the corner of the screen in Obama’s speech. And THAT is why this is politically tough for Obama.
