Oh, the Irony: Obama's Blackberry

My Dear Reader,

Okay, so I really thought that this blog would steer clear of politics after the election, but something came to my attention that was just too good to pass up. It turns out that upon being sworn in as the President of the United States, President-Elect Obama is going to have to give up his precious Blackberry and e-mail accounts. A trivial matter, you say? Not to the newsmedia, it's not.

Check out this outrage that Lester Holt* (of NBC's Nightly News) has expressed on the subject. (Fast forward to 2:10 in to get right to it):

Can you feel the seething rage? I had to watch a couple of episodes of Sesame Street just to recover. Mr. Holt is just as upset as all Americans should be on the matter, though perhaps slightly more concerned than I would recommend. He and Savannah Guthrie are not the only ones in arms, however. All of the news is up in arms over this latest development as you can see here** and here. Even Fox has weighed in on the matter, as you can see here. With chilling accuracy, these reporters have tried to explain to us the painful, Blackberry-less future that Obama is facing come January, and you can't help but feel their overwhelming sympathy for him. It's so nice that they care.

But to be serious here: this is a stupid issue. What else do we need to know about our president and future president? Their top ten sitcoms of all time? Which leg they put in first when they're putting on their pants? What puppy they are planning to adopt? Never mind.

So why, then, would so much attention be spent on the issue? I had to think about that one for a second, until I realized that these journalists, despite their medium of choice, all have one trivial thing in common: they all use Blackberrys themselves. And if they all happen to be just as addicted as Obama is supposed to be, then it's easy to see how they would think that this is an issue that everyone actually cares about. Kind of like how the majority of those same journalists were so in the tank for Obama that they thought that we wanted to know just how much they loved him. And oh, did we know.

And here's the irony: Remember how Senator McCain was so harshly criticized for not knowing how to e-mail? Remember how people tried to make you believe that it mattered if a presidential candidate could e-mail or not? HA! Who's laughing now? (The answer: Cecily. Cecily is laughing.) So this begs the question: if the presidency means no Blackberry, and if a Blackberry is so important to a person like Obama, should Obama step down as president-elect and let someone who can handle going four years without e-mail take the job?

Regards, best wishes, and a bias-free media,

-Cecily Jane

P.S. Just to be clear, that sentence about Obama stepping down is a joke.

*By the way, as my claim to fame, my Madre went to high school with Lester Holt. It's true!

**And I have to say that me favorite headline of the day was the one from the New York Times article: "Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe ." So clear. So concise. So bold. That's why this newspaper is the king of all American newsmedia, you know. You must henceforth address it as "Your Majesty." Kissing the feet is also appropriate.

UPDATE: Here's another video on the subject (fast forward to 1:46):