A Tale of 140 Characters, Plus the Ones in Congress

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Obama Outlines His Plans for Economic Recovery

In a speech to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama tells America, "we will rebuild, we will recover."

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Even the Republican lawmakers went gaga. When Michelle Obama walked in, one young Republican House member turned to a colleague and mouthed, "Babe." Only when Obama claimed his stimulus legislation was free of earmarks did the opposition party howl with derision.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it "a serious speech but one full of hope and optimism." And that was four hours before the speech.

In the House chamber, all the center-aisle seats were claimed early in the day. Lawmakers were so excited about the speech that they began reacting to it long before it was delivered. "The urgency and tone we heard from President Obama tonight is appreciated," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.). wrote in an e-mail two hours before the speech.

But on this night, e-mail was so five minutes ago. Lawmakers simply didn't have the attention span for anything longer than a tweet.

"On the House floor. Awaiting State of the Union speech. We need positive solutions," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) proclaimed at 7 p.m.

"In the House on the Floor six seats from center aisle stage left. Sitting next to Jeff Flake R-AZ. Seventh row," tweeted Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Some of the text messages were substantive. "Interesting comment that 'our confidence is shaken,' " wrote Blumenauer.

Others were atmospheric. "Place is on fire," tweeted Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R-Mont).

Many more were self-referential. "I am sitting behind Sens Graham and McCain," wrote Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.).

Or extraneous. "Fixed the tele-prompter, I think," wrote Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah).

Some lawmakers did a passable job giving play-by-play and color commentary of the speech: "Sounds like nationalization -- very bad news." . . . "Not many applause lines. Some in the audience not sure how to react." . . . "First big divide: he thanks Congress for recovery act. D's cheer, R's silent." . . . "Some Republican Senators are standing and clapping, including McCain." . . . "We must stand our ground as conservatives." . . . "Best line: 'For 7 years we have been at war. No longer will we hide its price.' " . . . "Seems to me honoring our troops should come on page one rather than the end of the speech." . . . "Americans are not quitters -- Amen -- what a great story."

And how many were reading these dispatches? Those following Congressman Wittman at 9:40 p.m.: 44. Senator McCaskill: 1. Congressman Blumenauer: 0. The live-streaming Culberson topped them all with 8,216.

All of which raises a question: Should these guys maybe spend time fixing the country and leave the Twittering to somebody else?

Staff writer Shailagh Murray contributed to this column.