Obama to have to turn in his BlackBerry?
Nov 18, 2008 Geek, In The News, Politics
Leo, Patrick, Jason and Alex were talking about this on TWiT this week: Barack Obama has been a CrackBerry addict for some time now, and will likely have to give that up to be the President:
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.
Politics aside, Obama and his campaign have made mention that the incoming administration is going to seem more connected than past ones, what with recent announcements of YouTube’d editions of the weekly radio address, the official transition website of the (amusingly nonexistent, though that’s another story) Office of the President-elect…Â All politics aside, it’s going to be interesting to watch the next four years, to see how this term plays out in new media and how it connects with the newest generations of voters.
