President Barack Obama took to Reddit for one of the website’s popular “Ask Me Anything” threads. After moderators and administrators confirmed it was indeed him — backed up by a post from his verified Twitter account and a photo (pictured) — the forum exploded with questions, asking about everything from felines to foreign policy. The impromptu Q&A temporarily crippled the site with traffic as the President logged in for the session from his campaign stop in Charlottesville, Virginia — the same city where two University of Virginia grads created Reddit in 2005.
Although he didnt’ answer those burning questions about cats, in just a short amount of time he touched upon important subjects like the White House beer (“I can tell from first hand experience, it is tasty.”) and protecting Internet freedom, referencing the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills controversy. The President reassured one Redditor of his goals: “Internet freedom is something I know you all care passionately about; I do too. We will fight hard to make sure that the Internet remains the open forum for everybody… I won’t stray from that principle — and it will be reflected in the platform.”
He also revealed how he tries to balance being Prez with daily life. “The big advantage I have is that I live above the store — so I have no commute!” It melted our hearts to read that he always makes it home in time for dinner at 6:30PM — but with that, he was gone like Batman. “By the way, if you want to know what I think about this whole Reddit experience — NOT BAD!” he wrote. Find out what basketball player the President loves and what advice he has for recent grads by visiting the IAmA thread over here.