on computer literacy and the presidency

You may have heard about the latest “McCain’s so old…” joke: McCain’s so old, he doesn’t even know how to send email! Well, it turns out the Oval Office doesn’t even have a computer, for starters. As for the last two presidents to serve during the era of email, Washington Wire has a surprise for you:

President Clinton, who oversaw the 90s tech boom, sent just two emails during his time in office, and doesn’t own a blackberry, according to a nugget in a Vanity Fair article on his wife’s failed presidential bid.

President Bush said last year in an interview that he refrained from using email as president, even though he enjoyed using it to keep in touch with friends, because of potential political risks.

“I don’t want to receive emails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s email may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, `Well, I didn’t read the email,’” Bush said in a 2006 interview with CNBC. “So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.”

So I wouldn’t expect Obama to be personally replying to your Facebook pokes (does anyone use those anymore?) or Twitter @replies. And I know this will crush your spirits, but Obama does not actually post all those tweets himself. Nor does he actually friend you on Twitter. That whole bit about his holiness Barack Obama living in your heart? It’s sort of a figure of speech. Sorry about that.

I wonder what Merlin Mann would think about the president spending half his day staring at a Blackberry.

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