barackobama
No Blackberry for you, Mr. Obama
According to the New York Times, Barack Obama will be giving up his Blackberry and e-mail when he moves into the Oval Office.
Sorry, Mr. President. Please surrender your BlackBerry.
Those are seven words President-elect Barack Obama is dreading but expecting to hear, friends and advisers say, when he takes office in 65 days.
For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.
At issue here is the Presidential Records Act, a law that makes all communication done by a sitting President part of the public record. It’s not clear For all the perquisites and power afforded the president, the chief executive of the United States is essentially deprived by law and by culture of some of the very tools that other chief executives depend on to survive and to thrive.
One wonders how long this will go on. As mobile devices and mobile network connectivity become increasingly ubiquitous and necessary for daily existence, how insulated from them can politicians be kept?