Remember the hubbub during the presidential campaign over Sarah Palin’s use of personal email?
…As Sarah Palin seeks to beat back charges that she improperly used her position as governor to urge the firing of her estranged brother-in-law, an Alaska state trooper, internal documents suggest that her staff may have hoped to channel sensitive correspondence through unofficial personal e-mail accounts to evade potential subpoenas.
…Palin’s appeal to executive privilege appears to be at odds with a strategy she discussed with aides…: using unofficial e-mail accounts… and personal devices like BlackBerries to shield communications from subpoenas as official public records. …this was the same tactic adopted by White House aides worried that their correspondence could be disclosed to investigators probing the allegedly political firing of US attorneys.
Apparently the mainstream media has forgotten. They all seem to think it is super-neato-cool that President-elect Barack Obama is a wireless kind of guy.
Obama Wants His Blackberry Back
Obama said he was concerned that the isolated life of a president would limit his access to information from outside the bubble of the White House.
Throughout the campaign, Obama was often seen communicating to staff members via his BlackBerry, a convenience the president-elect may legally have to forgo, and one which he indicated he was negotiating to keep.
For national security purposes, a president is limited in his electronic correspondences for fear of hacking. Additionally, presidential communications are strictly monitored and archived for historical purposes.
“One of the things that I’m going to have to work through is how to break through the isolation — the bubble that exists around the president. I’m in the process of negotiating with the Secret Service, with lawyers, with White House staff … to figure out how can I get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House,” he said.
Nevermind the national security issues. Heck, don’t even bother to mention the pesky little detail that having a personal wireless communication device could shield presidential communications from subpoenas and the public record. What’s important here is that the man is in a “bubble,” for cryin’ out loud! Get that dude a Blackberry, stat!
