Talk about personal sacrifice: Obama likely going to be forced to give up his Blackberry

[TeamJordan23]

November 16, 2008
Say Goodbye to BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe
By JEFF ZELENY

WASHINGTON — 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 on-the-move 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.

“How about that?” Mr. Obama replied to a friend’s congratulatory e-mail message on the night of his victory.

But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about keeping e-mail secure, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A final decision has not been made on whether he could go against precedent to become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

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. Mr. Obama, however, seems intent on pulling the office at least partly into the 21st century on that score; aides said he hopes to have a laptop computer on his desk in the Oval Office, making him the first American president to do so.

Mr. Obama has not sent a farewell dispatch from the personal e-mail account he uses — he has not changed his address in years — but friends say the frequency of correspondence has diminished. In recent days, though, he has been seen typing his thoughts on transition matters and other items on his BlackBerry, bypassing, at least temporarily, the bureaucracy that is quickly encircling him.

A year ago, when many Democratic contributors and other observers were worried about his prospects against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, they reached out to him directly. Mr. Obama had changed his cellphone number, so e-mail remained the most reliable way of communicating directly with him.

“His BlackBerry was constantly crackling with e-mails,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “People were generous with their advice — much of it conflicting.”

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, [e-mail]. “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

Continue Reading: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackberry.html?hp

[jefferson_dem]

1. Ok. That's it! That requirement alone will keep me from ever running for POTUS.

I refuse to give up my BB. Otherwise, I just might be "all in" in 2016.

:)

[hisownpetard]

3. Why do you think I am not President? That's it. That's the only reason.

[supernova]

2. PE Obama haz CrackBerry

[abumbyanyothername]

4. I suppose that the internet record of

abumbyanyothername (here and on Yahoo!) would be enough to disqualify me . . . since we seem to be past the whole "I did inhale" stage and all.

Of course, I was a guy who wished he knew how to get in contact with Bill Ayers and join up back in the day.

And then there was the whole stint selling "The Militant" (the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party).

[bluestateguy]

5. Bush and Cheney set a precedent: the president may ignore subpoenas

Obama should just keep the BB and e-mail and ignore subpoenas from nosy congressional committees and Ken Starr wanna bees. Then he should cite Bush/Cheney precedent as a defense.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. Wow, that would KILL ME! nt

[ben_meyers]

7. But of course we really know that Bush only had to quit

because he is a war criminal and didn't want any electronic evidence around. Obama is only going along with this because he is good and pure and shouldn't take any chances that the forces of evil might be eavesdropping.

[blogslut]

8. Or perhaps, we'll finally have a president

...who takes securing Internet communication seriously. I understand that he's going to have to curtail personal and trivial correspondence but I'm pretty sure he's not going to be nearly as "isolated" as the Times article implies. The man is hooked up to the mainframe now. He don't need no second-tier access no more.

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I cannot believe that prez shit-for-brains knew how to use a computer...

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, [e-mail] . “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

[Dappleganger]

10. He has people now...

"Have your people contact my people."

[davidpdx]

11. That would suck if he had to give up his blackberry

I guess it does make it more complicated in terms of records and keeping track of what is said.

[JVS]

12. Does this mean I won't be getting any more of those emails from him asking for money?

;-)

[Tutonic]

13. Darn, dardn, darn!!! How is ScarJo gonna reach out to the man??

[boppers]

14. Uh, logging blackberry records is not difficult.

People who hide records because they don't want to be "embarrassed" probably simply shouldn't be doing embarrassing things.

[Liberalboy]

15. Give me a break...

it's the 21st Century and he is the President for god's sake, don't tell me someone somewhere can't figure out how to make this happen????

[Liberalboy]

16. Oh...and I hope it's a MacBook on his desk :-)

[pinstikfartherin]

18. I second that!

<2 my MacBook!

[tigereye]

22. that would be really cool!

and then he needs an Iphone! :rofl:

[Hutzpa]

17. Not necessarily

he can become to First President to use modern electronics to carry out his day to day
activities.

I'm sure they can design one specifically for him which will in turn becomes the norm
for future Presidents that follows.

First Black President, First Computer age President... no quams.

[briv1016]

19. You're telling me the CIA couldn't hot-wire a blackberry to keep an activity log?

They've been wiretapping people for years and now there saying they can't do it when they have permission?

I could understand if there worried someone might pick up the GPS location and compromise security, but come on. I get the feeling someone is just being a dick.

[Whisp]

20. Mr. Bush is a potty mouth and has lots to hide.

[Whisp]

21. Mr. Bush is a potty mouth and has lots to hide.

[bitchkitty]

23. That is an outdated policy.

The world is online now.