President Obama followed me on Twitter and I blocked him

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article appeared on News Break.

I cannot believe Twitter suspended President Trump’s account.

That’s nuts.

I read the President’s tweets. He was not inciting violence, in my humble opinion.

This debacle reminded me of my own Twitter tantrum over a President. President Obama followed me on Twitter Dec. 16, 2017. My dad’s birthday.

I never had a President follow me on social media. So, my first thought was, “Why in the hell is Barack Obama following me on Twitter?”

By that time, I already was writing about political corruption in my hometown Rock Island, Ill. The county is notorious for getting by with whatever it can get by with. The population is only 147,546, but there are 25 board members.

The county often skips elections and appoints people to positions. The local newspaper The Rock Island Argus wrote a story about it.

The sheriff, Gerry Bustos, was appointed to the position after his wife, U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, won her second term in Congress.

Illinois Democrats scare the hell out of me

To be perfectly honest, the Democrats of Rock Island County flat-out scare me. My house was shot up when I wrote about human trafficking and missing persons there. Getting Rock Island police to come make a report was like pulling teeth.

If you can’t even count on police protection, it’s time to get out of Dodge. It’s why I moved to Denver.

Another time after I had written about corruption two sheriff’s deputies showed up at my door. They wanted to know if I was OK. I told them to get off my property.

How bizarre. Total intimidation.

Considering Obama is from Chicago, and Rock Island is known as “little Chicago,” it felt like a gangster had followed me on Twitter. Chicago politics is wholly corrupt. The town is run by Democrats.

"Road to Perdition" is a motion picture about Rock Island and Chicago gangsters based on a true story. The movie, starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, came out in the early 1990s.

I cannot trust President Obama given my context of dealing with corrupt Illinois Democrats. When he followed me on Twitter, I blocked him.

I thought I was hot stuff for a hot second

But not right away.

At first, I thought President Obama might wield some influence and smooth ruffled feathers. Perhaps he was extending an olive branch, or flattering me, by following me on Twitter.

Maybe the President (or his handlers, more likely) thought the follow would give me a nice ego boost.

It did for about a day or two. I wrote a column all excited about President Obama following me on my dad’s birthday. My dad was the center of my universe. I chronicled his dementia journey.

My dad was a huge President Obama supporter. “Don’t mess with my black president,” he used to say.

After a couple of days, I remembered my Hillary Clinton snafu. And I wondered whether I really wanted President Obama following me on Twitter.

Hillary placards couldn’t even fetch a quarter

I once tried to sell “Ready for Hillary” placards that I paid $5 each for. I put them up on the Facebook Marketplace.

I couldn’t even get a quarter for them. But I sure got a lot of funny comments.

I originally tried to get $10 each for two of them. I figured someone would buy them. They were collector’s items since she lost.

Using my finest writing skills, I penned an ad that got a lot of attention.

Hillary probably didn’t think it was funny.

And despite buying the placards, I ended up voting for President Trump.

Why?

Because the Democrats in my hometown are so corrupt, I never will vote for a Democrat ever again. And I was a serious liberal.

An open letter to my deceased father

I decided to write a letter to my father the day Obama followed me on Twitter. Writing a letter to the deceased can be therapeutic.

“This week, I judiciously put fingers to keyboard and hammered out some blogs that have the Quad-Cities reeling,” I wrote. “And by God, they apparently have caught the attention of President Obama, too.”

For a while, I was incredibly hopeful. “I think he knows I’m telling the truth about the corrupt Rock Island County Democrats,” I explained in the letter to my dead father. “I think he’s helping me out of respect for you, one of his most devoted voters of all time.

It’s true. Dad donated to the Obama campaign and got a family photo signed by his girls.

Had President Trump followed me on Twitter, I would have been doing backflips.

I am a Trump supporter, and I am not ashamed of that. And I would like to just leave it at that.

I wonder if President Biden will follow me on Twitter.

I hope not. It probably would give me an anxiety attack.

I once had a professor named Dr. Tweet

On the topic of Twitter, I must mention my college writing professor, Dr. Tweet.

Yep, Tweet. Just like sending out a Tweet.

Is that not the most wonderful name for a writing teacher ever? Dr. Tweet recently died. He lived to be quite old.

Dr. Tweet taught me a writing technique called mapping. In fact, I am using that writing technique now.

Essentially you let your brain free-fall. You write what comes to mind and see where it takes you. Then you can go back later and clean up extraneous information.

Presidential candidates flock to Iowa each year

Not only was I a Hillary Clinton supporter once upon a time, but I met her a few times.

I met President Obama a few times, too.

All the presidential candidates would come every election cycle to the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, where I worked many years. The candidates all wanted the paper’s endorsement because of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus status.

The last time I shook Hillary’s hand I was first in line to one of her political rallies. I was even featured on Iowa Congressman Bruce Braley’s Facebook page.

I hope President Trump knows there are people who support him. How sad that I cannot Tweet this story out to him.

President Trump just remember I blocked President Obama when he followed me on Twitter. And I’ll let you in on a secret: I almost sweetened the deal on the Hillary placards by tossing in the Obama family portrait signed by the girls.

But I couldn’t do it out of respect for my dad.

So I hung it on the wall in my office.

I made a donation to the Republican party in exchange for a Trump hat. Soon I’ll hang that on my wall, too.