Hang Onto That BlackBerry, Barack

Many arguments to lose the phone; all are silly

By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 18, 2008 12:10 PM CST

(Newser) – This weekend was full of stories about how Barack Obama will have to give up his beloved Blackberry as president—but that’s wholly unnecessary, writes Stephen Wildstrom in BusinessWeek. The only good reason to dump the phone would be because it's a timesuck, but “Obama has shown himself to be nothing if not disciplined,” Wildstrom notes. Other arguments to lose it are “specious” or misinformed.

One concern is that anything Obama types on it could go public. But that’s true of anything he writes anywhere: “again, it's all about discipline, not technology.” As for message security, all his notes would be encrypted. But the most ridiculous concern is that “evil-doers” could locate him by his Blackberry. Finding the president isn’t difficult, Wildstrom writes; he moves “with all the subtlety of the 101 Airborne Division.”

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It would be pointless for Obama to ditch his BlackBerry, Wildstrom writes. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Arguments to get rid of the Blackberry are "specious or based on a misunderstanding of how BlackBerrys work," Wildstrom writes. (PRNewsFoto/Verizon Wireless)

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The best reason for letting go of of the time-sucking communicator is that the President can’t afford to be reading jokes forwarded by friends and tapping away on a thumb keyboard when there's a Free World to run. - Stephen Wildstrom

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Hang Onto That BlackBerry, Barack