Comments on: Mr. Obama, don’t give up your Blackberry! Use it differently.

By: John

John — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:38:37 +0000

You can pledge to have Obama CarryTheBerry here: http://www.carrytheberry.com

By: John

John — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 23:38:37 +0000

You can pledge to have Obama CarryTheBerry here: http://www.carrytheberry.com

By: Dave Cherry

Dave Cherry — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:05:55 +0000

Great stuff, Dale! If there’s one thing the White House could use, it’s a bit of transparency and authenticity, especially after the Dark Ages of the last eight years.

By: Bo

Bo — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:53:26 +0000

While Dale’s idea might reduce some of Obama’s communications to pantomime, I think that having an emailing President, especially a mobile-enabled emailing President, is a great idea for keeping Obama’s administration connected to the public.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that several members of the administration could have many of their communications become entirely transparent.

open-source government here we come.

By: Dale Larson

Dale Larson — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 19:16:52 +0000

Thanks for the comments, Sheryl and Ken!

Certainly it’s a novel choice to make all your email public. But are the privacy issues really such a delicate balance?

He’s already had to decide how to deal with questions about every aspect of his life in a culture obsessed with questions like what kind of dog the White House will have. Wouldn’t he just have to apply that in responding to email? Or is there an important difference?

By: Ken Yeung

Ken Yeung — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:11:13 +0000

Great post…as a Blackberry addict, I’m in total agreement that Obama shouldn’t relinquish his Blackberry, but I do think that it’s somewhat sensible for him to stop for four years. As President, he’s going to have EVERYTHING be part of the public domain…including emails that he would potentially send to his friends and family. Even those that are “Merry Christmas from the Obamas” or “Are you going to the White Sox game tonight?”, etc. that would be subject to public scrutiny.

I think that if the public saw that, it would give people the sense that Obama is more human than the past administration, but then again, where’s the privacy issue for Obama’s personal life? I think it’s a delicate balance for how the White House can stil integrate with the web-generation.

By: Sheryl Roehl

Sheryl Roehl — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:10:31 +0000

Interesting take on the story.

For a tongue-in-cheek fantasy letter to President-elect Obama on how to give up his thumbing addiction, visit http://www.justmypointofview.wordpress.com.