Barack Obama chafes inside the 'bubble'

[DogPoundPup]

Posted November 25, 2008 10:00 PM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva

Barack Obama wants his BlackBerry back - or at least some good way to communicate better with people outside the immediate circle of the president-elect.

And Obama isn't too impressed with the way that automakers have conducted themselves in negotiations with Congress over a bailout of the industry.

These are among the gleanings from an interview that Obama gave to ABC News' Barbara Walters today in Chicago which will air on Wednesday - starting with snippets on ABC's Good Morning America at dawn and then more with the fuller broadcast of Walters' interview with Barack and Michelle Obama at 10 pm EST.
.
How is the president-elect getting along without that BlackBerry which the Secret Service wasn't happy about the boss carrying?

"This is a problem,'' Obama says in the interview airing Wednesday night, according to excerpts released by ABC. "You know, one of the things that I'm going to have to work through is how to break through the isolation and the bubble that exists around the president. And I'm in the process of negotiating with the Secret Service, with lawyers, with White House staff and....''

Does that mean he'll get his Berry back?

"Well, I'm, I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the ten or 12 people who surround my office in the White House,'' Obama said. "Because, one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch with what people are going through day to day.''

Read more: http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/11/barack_obama_chafes_inside_the.html

[Muttocracy]

1. Maybe he should take Michelle and Jill out to lunch once in a while

I think they'll keep him straightened out :)

[nevergiveup]

2. But will Michelle and Jill

also be in a bubble? I really don't know but suspect that even they will be shielded to some extent from the outside world.

[Muttocracy]

6. Maybe, but they strike me as well-grounded and Jill has 4 sisters in the real world. nt

[Jennicut]

8. Who else in proximity to the prez have to give up their blackberrys as well or is it just Obama?

Do Rahm and Joe have to give up their's too? Barack is the first guy in a long time to be president who really wants to stay grounded and real. I like that he is fighting the "bubble". I mean, after years of being in govt. George WH Bush did not even know what supermarket scanners were.

[Clio the Leo]

3. Exactly HOW does this work, serious question....

WHO is responsible for making sure he isn't using it and under what authority? I'm not DOUBTING it, I'm just curious as to the logistics of it.

I mean, an attorney points out to him that it would a violation of some law for him to continue to use it and he finally, being the decent guy he is, conceeds (at which point Michelle hides it in a drawer and doesn't tell him where.)

Or did they take it from him by brute force? Did they chase him up and down the stairs for a good 10 minutes until someone finally snatched it away from him? lol

'cause I'm tellin' ya, that would be the scene if it were President Elect Clio the Leo!

[Clio the Leo]

5. and if you hear of reports of a mysterious buxome blonde...

.... sneaking into the Oval Office late at night you can rest assured the ONLY thing that's happening is that I'm letting him use my iPhone! I adore Michelle almost as much as he does!

[Captain Hilts]

4. That's the advantage FDR had. The White House can be liberating only to a crippled man....

suddenly there were SWAT teams building ramps, raising toilets, getting him in and out of overcoats, etc.

An elevator and bathtub were installed in the battleship IOWA specifically for him.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:USS_Iowa_(BB-61)_bathtub_DN-ST-86-02543.JPG

[Clio the Leo]

7. That was VERY profound. May I use it? :-) NT

[Captain Hilts]

10. I can't remember who said it first...

but, suddenly, he always had a 'military aide' to hold him up.

So there was less of this:



And more of this:



Getting up and down was awkward and that's why FDR just about never went to baseball games - or to church other than in Hyde Park.

[Clio the Leo]

12. And so the American people never knew?

Am I remembering that correctly? I know, I'm being a bad historian by not knowing.

[Captain Hilts]

14. They knew he had some difficulty getting around. That was the rationale...

for Eleanor's traipsing around so much. He couldn't. She did a lot of the things prez's had done: lay the wreath at Arlington, go to the Army-Navy game, stand in receiving lines, etc.

My uncle was a radioman on IOWA and he was shocked by the degree to which FDR was an invalid. He could barely hold himself up and would roll around on deck in his wheelchair. My uncle took him the ship's newspaper every day.

FDR didn't have the right back muscles to hold himself up, so the presidential train rarely went over 35 mph because he could not take the jostling. FDR couldn't dress himself and Churchill wouldn't dress himself!

The most famous time his disability had political ramifications was when, in 1932, as gov. of NYS he went to the annual governors' conference in Richomond, VA and Hoover invited them all to the White House to meet the prez. Well, it was one of those occasions that it was up to Eleanor to hold him up. No problem as she was a big girl, but remember, FDR was top-heavy, so he would sometimes leave bruises on the arm of the person holding him up, depending on the circumstances. On this infamous occasion the governors and their wives were all lined up to meet the prez in the East Room and Hoover was 45 minutes late. People regularly came over to offer FDR a chair and he refused, of course. He and Eleanor put on their best party smiles, but by the time they left they both looked like NBA players at the foul line. They looked like buckets of water had been thrown at them. From that point on, they wanted to stomp Hoover flat.

I don't know if this picture is before or after the ordeal. Probably before:

[Clio the Leo]

16. Interesting. TY. NT

[anigbrowl]

9. Just give him a DU account

[BeFree]

13. If he'd been reading DU...

...this past week, he'd really be chaffed. He'd be asking: where did those idiots come up with that stuff?

I don't recommend DU at this time for Mr. Obama. Maybe never, the way things are going.

[Jennicut]

22. LOL....what will be his username?

[amitta]

11. he needs to browse the internet

open left, huffington post etc

[gravity]

15. Why can't he have a BlackBerry?

Is it really a security threat

[Phx_Dem]

19. From a SS standpoint, it's an electronic tracking device.

From a legal standpoint, it's a subpeona loving paper trail.

I say, lose the fucking Blackberry and find another way to stay in touch.

[Pirate Smile]

20. Can't they get the GPS out of the Blackberry? Isn't there some way to do that?

It may need to be read only but at least he could stay up-to-date on what is going on without dealing with a filter of people.

[Clio the Leo]

24. Yeah, I think it has more to do with the Presidential Records Act...

..... than the tracking device. Any phone I've ever had you could turn that off (granted I've never had a Blackberry.)

Here's an interesting article....

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=3092

November 16th, 2008
Free the Obama Blackberry

President-elect Barack Obama is being told he will have to give up his Blackberry, by aides who fear subpoenas, the Presidential Records Act and e-mail insecurity. (Framed copies of this Time cover are already priced at $19.95.)

While this is not entirely an open source story, it does get to the heart of what the Internet (and open source) make possible in all our lives. I have a four-word response.

Free the Obama Blackberry.

The reason for our obsession with reducing sources of Presidential records over the last 40 years has been the occasional Presidential obsession for bending and breaking laws.

That is the heart of the problem. Not secrecy. Not security. Not privacy.

For too many in the government and media, the main lesson of Watergate seems to have been don’t record anything. If they can’t get proof you can be above the law.

Nonsense. And putting paid to this nonsense is an important policy point.

But let’s make this a tech story again.

Can we maintain text records on phone calls? Yes we can.
Can we do the same on cell records? Yes we can.
Can we make people testify to private conversations? Yes we can.
Can we put this President, and all future Presidents, back under the restraints of the law? Yes we can.
Computer technology creates an easy-to-follow audit trail on everything we do, whether we’re blog writers or the President of the United States.

Trying to take the President “off the grid” is becoming more technically difficult and more legally indefensible every day.

My advice to the President-elect is that when they come for your Blackberry, say no.

And suggest they get one as well. Or maybe the new Google Android.

[Phx_Dem]

28. I don't think the SS gives a shit about the Presidential Records Act.

Their sole concern is his security. The White House Counsel cares about the Prez Records Act because their concern the Presidential's legal standing, position.

[Clio the Leo]

29. lol, ok then what kind of piece of crap phone is a Blackberry...

.... if you cant turn off the GPS thingy? Seriously!

I'll GIVE him my iphone if that's all that it takes!

... on second thought ..... no I wont! I dont like him THAT much.

[Phx_Dem]

30. If the SS is so concerned, then it must be a pretty big piece of crap.

Actually, it isn't a piece of crap but the "GPS" part of the any phone is in the battery. You can take the battery out to avoid tracking, but then you can't use the phone.

Even if the phone is turned off, it can be tracked. The only surefire way to avoid tracking is to remove the battery.

[Phx_Dem]

17. I sympathize with Obama, but when the Secret Service is unhappy

or concerned so am I. Lose the Blackberry.

[BlooInBloo]

18. I don't get it. Why can't he have a blackberry?

So long as everything is logged or whatever in accordance with the law, what's the big deal?

Or get a NSA-special-edition-blackberry. Whatever.

[Pirate Smile]

21. They have a GPS in them. Bad guys could track him.

At least that is one issue I've read about being a concern for SS.

[BlooInBloo]

23. An issue such as that was addressed in my post.

[Pirate Smile]

25. I don't know why they can't just take the friggin GPS out of HIS Blackberry.

I think one exception would be ok. He does not sound happy about this issue in the article. I don't blame him.

[BlooInBloo]

27. I'm not sure why they're even arguing with him about. He'll be, like *President* in a month or so...

And can just ORDER them to get him a damn blackberry that meets with whatever security reqs as are relevant.

[Phx_Dem]

31. sd

[last1standing]

26. "Because, one of the worst things I think that could happen to a president is losing touch..."

Hearing that really does give one hope.

[HughMoran]

32. Great to hear

I'm glad he's already sick of the bubble - and he hasn't even been sworn in yet.

[qwlauren35]

33. It will be interesting to see how he gets out of it.

I know he'll find some ingenious way. I wouldn't doubt that someone is already working on it, quietly. It's just not appropriate to discuss, and it will probably not be public knowledge.

I think this is one of those things people might want to write in to change.gov about, i.e. ways to stay in touch, safe ways to circumvent the bubble.

His accessibility "was" part of his charm. Hopefully, he and the SS can work out a compromise, but at this minute, until the nutjobs have quieted down, I kinda like the bubble.

Maybe when their parents stop paying income tax, they'll get a clue.

Imagine, withdrawing from your 401K or IRA and not having to pay taxes on it. Think how many more people might invest if they knew that it might NEVER get taxed.

We need to remind people about this, whenever Obama is able to implement it.

[ecstatic]

34. will he be allowed to go on the internet?

:shrug:

[ecstatic]

35. Are his staff members and/or secret service allowed to carry blackberries

If so, it seems that would defeat the purpose of taking his away.