OBAMA talk about the American Jobs

NEW YORK to be outdone by rival social networks Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn hosted its own presidential town hall online Monday.

Appearing via a live video stream on LinkedIn and the White House web site, President Obama took to the social network to talk about the American Jobs Act and the economy.

The most important thing we can do right now is to help jump start the economy which has stalled, by putting people back to work," Obama said, touting his $447 billion American Jobs Act.

Obama cited estimates that forecast the plan would increase U.S. gross domestic product by 2%, and add about 1.9 million jobs.

Those figures match estimates from Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics, who is among the more bullish forecasters, while many others predict a slightly smaller impact from the plan.

Obama also took questions from LinkedIn members and employees vetted in advance, as well as some members who gathered for the live event held in Mountain View, Calif.

"My mom wants to know... what will happen to Social Security?" one audience member asked.

"You can tell your mom that Medicare and Social Security will be there for her, guaranteed," Obama said, adding that modest adjustments will need to happen to keep the safety nets in place.

The president proposed $3 trillion in spending cuts last week. While the plan did not include any specific reforms to Social Security, it proposes slashing $248 billion in Medicare spending, mostly by reducing overpayments in the system.