[There was a video here]

Barack Obama convened the "first completely virtual interview from the White House" today in an attempt to connect directly with citizens. It turned out one of those citizens wanted the president to dance for her. Bet that never happens in the White House press room.

"I was wondering if you could stand up and give us a little jig real quick," asked "Jennifer," one of the participants in Obama's video "Hangout" on Google Plus. See the video above. The president declined, citing, diplomatically, the fact that his wife always makes fun of him when he dances, rather than the fact that it would be an insulting question even if he wasn't the leader of the free world.

Setting aside the overtones of a white woman with a southern accent asking a black man to dance a jig for her — see Twitter for how that went over — the crowdsourced online interview is still a budding journalistic form, and this does not get the medium off to a particularly dignified or promising start. And if old media are any guide, it's only downhill from here.