Obama needs to overcome an addiction

[nichomachus]

According to the NY Times, Obama -- for security reasons -- can no longer use his BlackBerry.

As anyone knows who lives or works with or near a "CrackBerry" addict, this is one of the hardest addictions to break. Good luck.

At least he's not a DU addict. That's even harder to overcome.

Obama has to surrender BlackBerry

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 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 e-mail security, 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 decision has not been made on whether he could 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.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I am sure...

That somewhere out there, a government contractor has a secure analog of the Crackberry that makes that thing look like a stylus and a piece of wet clay.

[JDPriestly]

2. So, the inbubbling is beginning. Keep Obama in the White House

bubble. Don't let him have any contact with the outside world that is not controlled by Rahm Emmanuel. Looks like the forming of a hot piece of steel into a political tool to me. The communications on the blackberry can somehow be recorded and preserved for all time. Or the president can replace his blackberry with an I-phone with internet access and use his regular internet account for family and friends. Surely he can differentiate between communications that should not be made placed into the public airwaves from those that can be? That's not that difficult. He should be able to keep some account for personal use -- not private use, but personal use. The Presidential Records Act should be respected without flaw, but should not be a barbed wire fence around the White House. Please.