Obama to Quit 'Crackberry'?

Barack Obama's newly named Secretary of Commerce, Bill Richardson, once famously answered the question "If you could bring one thing with you to a deserted island, what would it be?" with the retort, "My Crackberry." Those familiar with the wickedly addicting technological marvel that is the Blackberry knew exactly where Richardson was coming from. Indeed, for many multi-tasking politicians, the Blackberry is not just a handy way to communicate, it's a thumb-gnarling way of life. And you can add tech-savvy President-elect Obama to that list, at least for now.

The problem with a Blackberry in the hands of the commander-in-chief? Well, the messages one sends and receives are easily hacked, for one thing. So, if Obama were to fire off something like, "LOL, Sarkozy! IMHO, Putin is def toast," and some pimple-faced kid were to intercept it and slap it up on the internets, well, obv, that would not be good. The other issue with Crackberry is the frequency with which its users are compelled to shoot off idle missives. As Ben Smith notes today:

The question of whether Obama should keep his Blackberry is basically about whether he has the personal discipline not to fire off any notes that would look back either in posterity or in unforseen legal action.

By this same logic, Twittering is right out for presidents. But Obama is not laying down his PDA without a fight. Clearly, the guy is hooked, as he described to Barbara Walters:

WALTERS: You might have a Blackberry?

OBAMA: Well, I'm, I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside the ten or 12 people who surround my office in the White House. 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.

It's bad, alright. So what do you think?