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Obama's sacrifice
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Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times
Washington, DC is buzzing about what President-Elect Barack Obama is having to give up to lead the free world. And it's his BlackBerry.
Like most professionals in the Capital City, Senator Obama relied heavily on his BlackBerry to keep him in touch with colleagues, staff, friends and family. The New York Times reports that Obama often would email one-word missives to friends during the campaign... eg "Sox" when the White Sox won a baseball game.
Apparently, the tech addict was reprimanded during some of his campaign obligations with aides forcing Obama to fork over the device during prep work for the debates with McCain.
As a president, getting information from multiple sources with multiple viewpoints is an extraordinary tool. But, apparently it is also a burden. Problem number one is security. As with all email, the communication is not without its weaknesses and those that handle a president say that is a no-no. Can you imagine the hackers trying to break into that account? We all saw how well that worked out for Sarah Palin.
Problem number two? Everything... and I mean everything... becomes part of the presidential record. Can you imagine that embarassing forward from your third cousin being part of the official record at the National Archives? Oy.
Problem number three is that it is a time waster. This is the one that makes the most sense to me. Someone else should be worried about emails. The leader of the greatest nation on this planet should be a little too busy to read my blog. But, if he wants to, who am I to stop him? And if he wants to hire someone to keep up with email, I'm his gal.
Since the election, Obama has been virtually hidden. We've heard about the high-level policy meetings and watched him go into the White House for a first-hand tour from W and the Mrs. But, there's been little of the man who was everywhere just a couple of weeks ago.
This weekend, however, news magazine "60 Minutes" scored an interview with number 44. Wisely, they dedicated an entire hour to the history-making man. It's fascinating, enlightening and all those things I expect of my prime-time news magazines. (Unfortunately all too often, I am disappointed.) There's a very interesting comment by Michelle Obama about her new role as a Washington, DC resident. Also, Barack Obama lays out his much-balyhooed plan for a college football championship play-off system. Check out the entire clip below (about 38 minutes if you skip Andy Rooney).
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