Obama Has To Give Up Electronic Communication

As the world grows in terms of how we communicate, the president of the United States must leave it behind. I was absolutely shocked when I read this article from the Times.

When George W. Bush took office in 2001, he had to completely give up on any correspondence through his email address. He gave this last message to everyone in his address book: “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. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

The reason that the President has to rely on 20th century means of communication is something called the Presidential Records Act. This means that any communications that the President has is up to public review. Since e-mail security isn’t a 100% gurantee, the President must give up this luxury.

According to the article, this is going to be especially difficult for Barack Obama. He relies on his Blackberry for just about everything in his life. He’s continually answer emails, and conducting business.
It lists numerous instances of him using it, but suffice to say it’s a ‘major’ part of his life.

I find it absolutely shocking that the President has no means of communicating over the internet. I would think it would greatly help the efficiency of the president’s office. There has to be a form of security that can be implemented that can keep the president’ documents safe. Who relies on the postal service, and phone lines anymore? We dont, so should we expect the president to do the same?