The "Black" Addiction

"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 a few more days from now.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..

“His BlackBerry was constantly crackling with e-mails,” said David Axelrod, the campaign’s chief strategist. “People were generous with their advice — much of it conflicting.” His messages to advisers and friends, they say, are generally crisp, properly spelled and free of symbols or emoticons. The time stamps provided a window into how much he was sleeping on a given night, with messages often being sent to staff members at 1 a.m. or as late as 3 a.m. if he was working on an important speech.

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. A decision has not been made on whether he could become the first e-mailing president, but aides said that seemed doubtful.

So will the Black President say good bye to his BlackBerry ? May be his unique ways of thinking and acting will bring him a new means of communciation :)

Source : New York Times