U.S. President-Elect Barack Obama had a lengthy interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters earlier this week, touching on all the important political issues, like the economy and foreign policy, as well as adapting to the presidential life with his wife and kids. As reported earlier, it was likely that Obama would have to give up his much-doted-upon BlackBerry due to the Presidential Records Act, which puts all written correspondence from the head of state into public record. Despite the significant hurdle, Obama remained hopeful that he could keep the device for some very worthwhile reasons.
“How are you going to get along without your BlackBerry?”
“[Laughs]This is a problem. One of the things that I’m going to have to work through is how to break through the isolation, the bubble that exists around the president, and I’m in the process of negotiating with the secret service, with lawyers, with White House staff…”
“You might have a BlackBerry?”
“Well, I’m negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the ten or twelve people who surround my office in the White House, because one of the worst things that I think can happen with to a President is losing touch with the struggles people are going through every day.”
It’s a tough predicament to be in, especially for one of the most wired heads of state to date. As such a public and influential figure, it makes good sense for the president to remain connected to his country, its people, and the world, and an online presence really is the best way to do that. Regardless, Walters mentioned that Obama’s losing the fight for his BlackBerry in particular. He could at least keep it for using twitter, right? I could imagine it now… “@iraq sry our bad, getting out now @queenmichelle be home soon”.