BizAims

Before Barack Obama ran for president he decided to quit smoking and now, when he got the position, he will most likely break his other habit, i.e. checking his e-mail. It is worth mentioning that e-mail messages of the president may be subpoenaed by Congress and courts, thus becoming subject to public records laws. In case the president is not interested in his email becoming private, he must quit emailing, specialists say.

Besides, his favorite BlackBerry may cause security issues, because it is one of those millions of cell phones that could be tracked. Till now, the Obama's transition officials did not decide whether he will or will not keep his cell phone. Nevertheless, people who know a lot about security say that Obama is less likely to carry his cell phone.

"Definitely he's going to feel an electronic detoxing," said Reed Dickens, former assistant press secretary to President George W. Bush. He joked that he personally is highly addicted to his BlackBerry, in fact, he even checks the gadget before opening his right eye.

Barrack Obama has been previously noticed enthusiastically checking email messages on his BlackBerry. A lot of news cameras caught Obama checking his handheld device for messages while watching the soccer game where his daughter played.

Hollywood favorite Scarlett Johansson mentioned that she frequently sent email messages to Obama during his campaign journeys.

"This is a decision President-elect Obama will have to face," said former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan. He said that the legal advisers of the president-elect Obama will most likely vote against an e-mailing president.

In an email interview the former Bush press secretary wrote: "While he has pledged an open and transparent government, I doubt the president-elect is interested in subjecting his own personal communications to that standard. He will have to think very hard about whether he wants to make his own words that subject to open records by having his own e-mail and his own BlackBerry." Previous two presidents had to avoid emailing while in office.

"It's all discoverable; it creates a trail that might end up in congressional investigators' hands," stated Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. He added that in case one hopes to delete White House email, he gets a strict warning about archiving presidential messages.

It would be interesting to note that a few days before Bush became the US president in 2001, he decided to send email message to all his close friends. In his message he wrote that he would no longer check his email messages due to security concerns. He wrote: "Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace. This saddens me."

Although Bush felt rather unhappy with the fact that he can no longer check his email, he chose cell phone as a source of talking to friends. In his message McClellan added: "I am sure the president looks forward to being able to communicate with them via e-mail again come January 20, 2009."

There were a number of serious battles in the court during the period when Bush was president. A lot of them concerned mistakes committed in e-mail archives at the White House. Prior to taking office in 2001, Bush proved to be an active e-mailer. In 2002 appeared BlackBerry with its email and text message features. Those who often used the gadget call themselves crackberry addicts.

Joe Lockhart, who held the position of press secretary during Clinton White House, believes that Obama is the first president that is addicted to BlackBerry like most of people and added that there are a lot of strict rules regarding presidential records and archive and knowing those rules means knowing what gets stored and what is deleted. It is quite difficult for a techie to quit using BlackBerry.

According to Benjamin Nugent, who wrote the book entitled "American Nerd," Barack Obama is a real techie with nerd qualities. Thus it would be quite painful for him to stop using his favorite device. He wrote: "It'll be interesting if we could see the torment on his face. For me it would be hell." However, giving up emailing might benefit the new president, according to Lawrence Welkowitz, a psychology professor at Keene State University in New Hampshire.

"It might be a completely freeing thing for him, so that he can free himself to think and act," outlined the professor, who is not addicted to BlackBerry and doesn't even have one. Even if Obama will stop using his own gadget, it is likely that he will use the devices of his personal assistants. "He's the president. If he wants to carry the BlackBerry, he's entitled," said McCurry.