Obama Wants To Keep BlackBerry: I Dont Want to Lose Touch

President-elect Barack Obama and the love of his life, a BlackBerry.

US President-elect Barack Obama says that he is attempting to find a way of keeping access to his BlackBerry device after he was told he could not use the popular wireless emailing device due to a legal requirment for all transactions to be put stored for later use on the public record.

In an interview with ABC's Barbara Walters, Obama talked about the importance of breaking through the isolation faced by the president, reports said.

"Well, I'm, I'm negotiating to figure out how can I get information from outside of the 10 or 12 people who surround my office in the White House," Obama says in the interview. "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."

Obama's personal BlackBerry has been his constant companion for years and especially on the campaign trail in 2007 and 2008, that kept him "plugged in" to the world outside just his inner circle.

President Bush was apparently very upset when he discovered he could no longer email when he gained office in January 2001. Some arguments have been made that the use of devices where Presidents can talk to others on the outside may help in the decision making process and make for good leadership.

There is also the argument that Obama's BlackBerry could be hacked by foreign intelligence agencies or other undesirables that could be a national security threat.

Then again, aruges the Chicago Tribune, why doesn't he just use an iPhone instead....

As of September 2008, there were some 19 million subscribers to the BlackBerry brand.