Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe (Obama likely to be disconnected like Bush)

[onehandle]

Source: NYT

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.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/politics/16blackbe...

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Well that would keep me from ever running for prez

LOL

[dkf]

2. text messages too?

[RC]

3. Run his e-mail through the White House mail server. Problem solved.

[endless october]

4. yep.

no need to give up the blackberry.

there's probably a way they can secure it somehow.

[Idealism]

5. Im sure his high-tech campaign

can figure out how to change the server settings on a phone. problem is the WH server is secure and locked up like fort knox.

[rcrush]

6. Obama loves lolcats!

[XemaSab]

21. That's silly

He should be able to communicate at least with Michelle and the girls.

[geekgrrl]

7. yeah, if they run his email and texts through a white house server, why not let him keep it?

There must be some way to get his blackberry on the white house server so he could keep it. Seriously, I want him to be connected and communicating in the same way he's used to!

[mondo joe]

8. I would never trade my iPhone for the Presidency.

[awoke_in_2003]

11. I was gonna run for pres...

but I had just got an iPod Touch. They can have it when they pry it from my cold dead fingers

[aquart]

15. Perfect.

[Bette Noir]

9. Yeah, definitely, lock up the President and don't let him communicate with the world.

Sheesh.

[Lex]

10. I'm sure he'll figure out how to keep it

and stay within the rules. Doesn't seem that hard.

[WillBowden]

12. Presidential Records Act...

Pity he couldn't just destroy the records "accidentally" like the Republican party.

[Life Long Dem]

13. I'm sure security will be the factor which Obama relies on.

I doubt he'd want his private emails read.

[aquart]

14. Okay, which is harder: giving up the Blackberry or smoking?

And let's take a moment to appreciate the sacrifice here.

[Buenaventura]

16. Well damn! McSame would'a been perfect for the job after all!

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. you think that's bad

further down the article it says they're only going to let him use AOL dial up for his internet provider.

[Kali]

18. ...

[Wizard777]

19. Md. Gov. Martin O'Malley would probably tell them. You can have it.......

when you pry it from my cold dead hands. He is a known hardcore Blackberry addict.

[psychmommy]

20. isn't that how kwame kilpatrick got caught out there in detroit.

he was sending/receiving sexy texts with a gov't employess on their gov't blackberry's. i know john street (former philly mayor) had a blackberry-city issue. all of kwame's text's were retained, he just didn't know it and lied to the investigators. i think o can have a blackberry, it just isn't personal anymore.

[Lena inRI]

22. Eric Schmidt may not be the CTO in an Obama Admin BUT. . .

. . .can't Google et al figure out a way to provide a parallel IP address for President-Elect Obama once he's in the White House ?

Hell, they set up the Presidential "RED PHONE" for any possible "BOMB" decision during the Cold War era. . .

I don't see why that PR Act has to deny him his PRIVATE COMMUNICATION DEVICE. . .

where there's a will. . .there's a way !

Y E S H E C A N. . . . H A V E H I S B L A C K B E R R Y !

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/...

[pop goes the weasel]

23. Noooooooo!

I don't use a Blackberry, but one thing I've been looking forward to is a president who is connected to the pulse of the internet. I don't need to follow him on Twitter, but I really like the idea of him getting his information feed without an administerial buffer.