Ah, the irony. President-elect Barack Obama has to give up his BlackBerry when he takes office on Jan. 20, despite being the “first tech president.” Yes he can, but yes he should?

Sure, there are the security issues to consider (overly curious Verizon Wireless workers are not the only concern). But the real conundrum of the BarackBerry* lies in something called the Presidential Records Act, which makes all presidential correspondence part of the official record — recording it for posterity and public review, but also for subpoena purposes should that become necessary. The situation brings up the age-old question of public versus private speech (and whether there’s a distinction for public officials), but mostly, it shows a massive cultural disconnect.

The problem is that the second something is recorded, whether on paper, in audio or in the form of electronic data, it’s considered to be correspondence. That’s why presidents to this day have all been e-mail-less.

But in today’s modern world, people throw all sorts of ephemera out there, via IM, Twitter, texts, e-mail, MySpace, whatever. It’s just what we do. Virtual ramblings are increasingly replacing the spoken word. Should such off-the-cuff conversation (like, “should I tell Hillary her hair looks good today?” and “LOL, you are SUCH a card, Rahm!!”) attain the lofty designation of “correspondence?” Imagine: If Obama were allowed to have a Facebook page, his daily status updates would be part of the public record. Correspondence is the province of spidery handwriting on ivory parchment paper, right? Or at the very least, official letterhead...?

So it is that our heads of state are destined to languish as Luddites, hopelessly behind the real world they claim to help govern. And it’s all very ironic for the man who plans to appoint an official CTO, and whose campaign spent more than $1 million on Verizon Wireless services to do things like send texts to voters.

So should he give up the BlackBerry? Or should the Records Act be amended given the rapid pace of innovation in the tech sector and its potential in government? One other tangential issue to consider is the famous Presidential Bubble — security tightens and a person goes from campaigning, being tapped into the people, to only touching the outside world via a filter of advisors and secret service. Cutting off comms is just one more isolation method. It’s almost sick when the person in question has relied on BlackBerrys and e-mail to keep it real with the folks at home.

And besides, should Obama care about his conversation being kept for posterity? He wouldn’t be the first if the answer is “no.” There are those in the past who obsessively recorded their legacies: Nixon famously taped the Watergate conversations, even the really, really incriminating stuff. He had just that much of an ego. FDR, Eisenhower and Kennedy also secretly taped private chats, unbeknownst to anyone else. And Clinton, well ... he just wrote a very, very long memoir. No stone left unturned with that one, eh?

Of course, if Obama were allowed to stay tech savvy, his section in the Library of Congress would require the construction of a new wing by virtue of the sheer electronic volume of things.

* P.S. Thank you, Word God, for making Obama’s first name end in “ack” so I can make that silly “BarackBerry” pun.

User Comments !

I thought it wouldn't be that hard to be the first high tech president. Seems that's wrong.

Posted by: Lucy Andrez | November 24 2008 21:48:08

Go Obama, the more i read about him the more I am starting to like him. well Barack Berry does sound good, sad his name doesn't rhyme with iphone !

Posted by: BestPainRelief | November 26 2008 01:15:37