Obama: Staying in Touch

Dear President Obama: buy a radio, stick it in the oval office and tune it into NPR.

I think Obama can find a legal way to keep his Blackberry. If they copy the White house counsel on every message, then it becomes privileged attorney-clinet communication.

Or subscribe to and read multiple national newspaper and magazines. Although I do feel your pain about losing the Blackberry.

My favorite: The GG1987. Feather-light, wafer-thin, ultra-cool, and ready for making deals.

Actually Obama could become a Swampland blogger.

Doesn't Paulson have one of those, coffee? Is Mrs. coffee back home for T-day?

Love the Gekko; Mrs. Coffee arriving this PM. Boys watching Tivo'd "Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making The Team."

"If they copy the White house counsel on every message, then it becomes privileged attorney-client communication."

Um, no.

How on Earth will Obama know what is going on out in America without his Blackberry!?!

The millions of Americans who, until now, were able to email or text Obama and get a swift response to their questions will be sorely disappointed.

I also love how White House officials in the Bush administration used unsecured email servers, including using RNC accounts and Blackberries, to conduct government business and discuss classified information. They also willfully or negligently failed to preserve thousands of email messages. All of this has been virtually ignored by the media.
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But now, Obama can't have a Blackberry. Suddenly proper IT security protocols must be enforced!

I don't get this. Why can't he have a blackberry?

Can he at least sneak out for all-night rave parties?

jay, my understanding is that the blackberry network is simply not secure and cannot be made secure.
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Didn't stop Rove or Susan Ralston, but then nothing else did either.

Persohnally, I'd recommend he spend an hour a day with the left blogosphere. If they'd been reading atrios, they would have known about the financial crisis earlier. Or following along with Josh, they'd have been kept current on any number of important issues. been reminded of how the legal system is supposed to work by Glenn.
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And digby always has something interesting to say.
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This could even be done presindential style with a minion printing it out every morning, and putting into a special top secret binder.
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(A friend of a friend was elected to Congress, and got onto the House intelligence committee. This was back in the days of the hostage crisis in Iran. He was eager for his first closed briefing with the CIA, find out what the real situation was. The TOP SECRET briefing book contained page after page of photocopied articles from the NYTimes.)

Does the president not have email, either?
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If he doesn't have e-mail, he may never know he's Muslim.

I mean, jeez, little girls aren't secure either. There's stuff he probably shouldn't mention to them. And stuff he shouldn't put in email. All of us who use email know about this. Is the idea that the president is somehow inherently stupider than everybody else?

Happy Thanksgiving to KT and all Swampland commenters. I am unplugging and going to ME for the holiday. Enjoy the long weekend.

As for subpoenas, presidents ignore those in the current millennium.
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I'm hoping for the midnight visits to the Lincoln Memorial.

"There's a big difference between the aides having BlackBerries and the Big Guy having one."
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From the standpoint of simple curiosity, I'd agree. I'd certainly rather have a peek into Obama's thoughts than Rahm Emanuel's (and not just because of their respective titles). But from a security standpoint, there is not a big difference.