Obama's Reddit AMA breaks record, Ohanian invites Romney

President Barack Obama waves as he is introduced during a campaign event at Iowa State University, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012, in Ames, Iowa.

/ AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

(CBS News) President Barack Obama answered questions from the link-sharing community Reddit on Wednesday. During a 30-minute question-and-answer session commonly referred to as an AMA - which stands for "ask me anything" - the President addressed Citizens United, the space program and Internet freedom.

President Obama answers questions on Reddit AMA - read his full answers

Reddit is a link-sharing community that has a sub-section called "IAmA," which allows anyone to start a thread for people to ask unfiltered questions. Within 15-minutes, the thread - titled "I am Barack Obama, President of the United States -- AMA" - had already received 1,333 comments. The number of comments is currently at 22,941.

"It was a good day!" Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told CBS News in an email. "Over 200,000 people on site hitting during the interview (mashing reload to keep seeing updates) is a new high." Reddit typically sees about 100,000 people on the site at a time.

President Barack Obama sits at a laptop answering questions from Reddit users on Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012.

/ Imgur/PresidentObama

Those familiar with Reddit may not be surprised at the turnout. While the site has a simple user interface and passionate community, it is anything but a small forum.

Reddit general manager Eric Martin told CBS News over the phone that the site passed 3 billion monthly page views in July. And Obama's AMA alone is currently at 3.8 million page views.

When asked how Reddit convinced the President to do an AMA, Ohanian told the blog AllThingsD:

"There's not a lot to it. I've gotten to know quite a few folks in the WH & Obama campaign team over the years and it was always something I brought up when I got the chance. There are quite a few redditors at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and at the campaign HQ -- given the prominence of reddit, it's an easy sell."

Politicians have hosted AMAs in the past, including Rep. Ron Paul and former Rep. Anthony Weiner, but Obama is the most prominent host of an AMA session yet.

When asked if Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would be asked to host an AMA, Ohanian told CBS News, "I'd been quietly working to encourage the Romney team to do one, but I went ahead and invited him publicly." In a Bloomberg report, Ohanian said that it was Romney's turn to face the Internet.

"He came out so strongly against SOPA during that CNN Republican candidate debate that it's clear he too wants Internet freedom for Americans," Ohanian told Bloomberg, referring to the Stop Online Piracy Act. Reddit played a central role in the online protests. It led to an Internet blackout in January, where websites went dark in protest of twin bills SOPA and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). "What better way to show it then to do a Reddit interview with the Internet public?"

There are about two months left until election day. If Romney does an AMA, it's likely that Ohanian will hint at an upcoming question-and-answer session. Leading up to Obama's AMA, Ohanian teased on Twitter, "There's a really special AMA coming later today."

[BBrns]

The Reddit President Badge of Achievement : http://www.badjer.com/badges/114-the-open-president

[CaptainSmollett]

Noteworthy FACTS not well covered in the media:
1) Consumer Confidence has been lower during the past two years than any two-year period in the history of the statistic (back to 1967), and it declined significantly in August.
2) Business Confidence is abysmal: only 20% of business leaders expect improvement in the next six months. This statistic worsened dramatically in the second quarter.
3) The Fed's most recent economic outlook is "darkening".
4) S&P recently downgraded U.S. debt, the second rating agency to do so.
5) There are more people on welfare and food-stamps than any time in history, and poverty is INCREASING.

These are recent statistics. Obama built that.

[ichibandan]

No, the Republicans built that. They are the onses creating the stagnant economy.The only thing they have done besides breathing is make sure Obama gets nothing past Congress Republicans are to blame and everyone knows it.

[mlechman]

Isn't Redditt a porn site?

[ragsd77194]

No, however it has an NSFW section.

[TheRyanRanch]

Wow, another cool hip smoke and mirrors plot from a moron of a president, geeez, how obvious is Obummer going to be on enticing the youngsters who vote for him, Reddit, really Mr Obama..... pffffft.....

[Consilio]

You sir have never visited Reddit. This is an amazing thing for a President to do.

[justamaz]

Obama has a "spin it answer" for almost anything. You might just get a honest answer if you ask him his favorite number. Hope its not 2016.

[ichibandan]

And Ryan's favortie number is zero. That's what we will all end up with if he and Romney are elected. You cannot cut federal spending by 91 percent and expect to have prosperity. It's simple math. It will never work unless we turn into Bangladesh.

[gomezad]

Wow, Obama did another interview where he got to pick and choose the questions he was asked. Oh I'm sorry it wasn't mentioned in the article but that's how it actually went down. I forgot this is CBS "news". By news that means the liberal identity of news which means that anything that portrays or reflects on Obama in a negative way not only is not reported but it NEVER HAPPENED. You know like the "we all bundle" commercial. Yup you'll have Obama lying right to the camera saying his campaign never called Romney a felon as a split screen is playing the audio of Stephanie Cutter saying exactly that. While your listening to her ridiculous comments the liberals will stand right there and deny the words are coming out of her lips while we are hearing them. Liberalism really is becoming a mental illness.

[liberalmike]

LOL come on now only robme does that!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57496938-503544/randomly-chosen-or-familiar-faces-romney-takes-questions-from-backers/

[odnocer]

MITT QUIT! a second term Massachusetts governorship. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governorship_of_Mitt_Romney --Mitt Romney was a ONE TERM governor.