Cybersecurity

Obama's Social State of the Union

In the age of new media, the president and his team are trying to innovate to keep one of the country's oldest traditions relevant.

U.S. President Barack Obama posts a Tweet during an online Twitter town hall meeting from the East Room of the White House July 6, 2011 in Washington, DC.
Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

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By Margaret Talev

January 20, 2015 at 10:50 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Two weeks after the Paris terrorism attacks, in the opening days of a new Congress where Republicans control both chambers and are moving to reshape domestic policy, why has the White House used the lead-up to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to promote his post-speech interviews with luminaries such as Bethany Mota, a 19-year-old YouTube celebrity who became famous for showing strangers her fashion and beauty buys online?

Why has Obama given away so much about the speech by rolling out proposals weeks ahead of it? What happened to the bully pulpit? What would George Washington think?