As a writer, I've been amazed for the longest time to see journalists now using Twitter for attributable quotes. A person's Twitter output is only as secure as the password on their account so, unless you actually see someone typing in their latest stream-of-conscience thought, there's no proof that their Twitter message really came from them.
But that's modern journalism -- oh, well.
It's another thing entirely when the President of the United States and the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, could only muster up a lame "tweet" yesterday in response to the 68th anniversary of the D-day invasion by Allied forces in Europe.
Here's the commander in chief (at least according to Twitter):
68 years ago today -- D-Day -- the brave members of the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy. We have never forgotten their heroism. --bo
And Mitt Romney, the man who wants to be the next commander in chief, allegedly sent this via Twitter:
Thank you to those who stormed the beaches, took the cliffs and freed a continent. We should never forget #DDay
I'm sure the 9,000 Americans who died on that one day would appreciate all this effort made by both men -- and, of course, Romney's moving use of hashtags.
And, again, we can't even be 100-percent positive these messages even came from the Obama and Romney camps -- but it's all we've got.
The official White House schedule had the president in California all day Wednesday on a campaign fundraising swing, including a stop last night at the Los Angeles home of Glee creator Ryan Murphy to raise more money.
Romney spent the day at campaign events in Texas.
I understand that both sides need to feed the campaign beast and that's all well and good. But would it have been too much trouble to at least issue a more substantive press release or even take a minute or two to record an audio or video message commemorating this important event in world history and the people who gave their lives on that day?
While the president did give a good speech in 2009 for the 65th anniversary of D-Day, there was no speech or written proclamation over the last two years and the best the president could produce yesterday was 140 characters or less.
Romney's no better, but he's not yet commander in chief so I hold the president even more accountable in this instance.
The official White House blog could only offer a meaningless post "From The Archives" replaying what the president said in his 2009 D-Day speech -- that's right, the White House website gave Americans a rerun on the 68th Anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy.
This is inexcusable from a leadership perspective and stupid in a political year. Fortunately for both of our presidential candidates this year, from a political point of view, one guy's negligent behavior nullifies the other.
They're both just bad.
But take heart, literary fans. The White House did find time on June 6 to issue a statement on the death of Ray Bradbury.