Critical Minute – Good Evening from Google, friends

Today at 4:50 PM, President Obama will sit down with Americans from all across the country for a ...  More »

Today at 4:50 PM, President Obama will sit down with Americans from all across the country for a “Fireside Hangout” – our 2013 take on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats. Using Google Hangouts, President Obama will be streamed across the world in real time audio and video. In anticipation of the live event, the White House’s YouTube Channel has been equipped with an “Ask Obama” tab, where anyone can vote on our submit a question to be answered in his Fireside Hangout. As of this morning, more than 16,000 people have submitted 7,500 questions and 100,000 votes have been cast on questions ranging from military spending, world poverty, education, internet privacy and even to removing pennies from circulation. You can vote on questions, or submit your own on the White House’s YouTube page. History showcases the success of Roosevelt's first fireside chats. Roosevelt’s first fireside chat marked the beginning of a series of 30 radio broadcasts to the American people reassuring them that the nation was going to recover and shared his hopes and plans for the country. This was also during the “Golden Age of Radio”. History is now repeated during the “Golden Age of Google”. We now look towards the success of Obama’s fireside chat, with only one limiting question to his technological ambition: Will our current Internet bandwidth restrictions limit the reach of Obama’s message? We also continue to hope that Google’s motto of “Do Good”, will serve as a backdrop for Obama’s chat, as the company seeks to expand into telecommunications – with their latest “Google Fiber” technologies – allowing for all Americans to access similar technologies currently hindered by second-rate internet service providers. Tell us what you think @criticalmention or on our Facebook page.  « Less