E-mail to Obama is symbol of elite access

Now few people can send e-mail to Obama due to security reasons. Anthony Lake was one of Obama's principal counselors on foreign affairs during the campaign and emailed him regularly, but now he does not have Obama's e-mail address. Only a select few have it now. They include Vice President Biden, Obama's chief of staff, his top advisors, and some of his old friends from Chicago. A senior White House adviser under Mr. Clinton comments, “This is the 21st-century version of the same special access that certain people are always granted to the president.” Obama now has a new BlackBerry that is a more sophisticated, encrypted variation. He also has agreed to limit the number of people he would email with on his computer. Obama joked about the exclusiveness of his e-mail list at a dinner, “How exclusive? Everyone look at the person sitting on your left. Now look at the person sitting on your right. None of you have my e-mail address.” To minimize any risks, it is impossible to forward messages that are from the president or send him attachments, and his email address will be frequently changed. I think it's good that they're taking so many precautions with Obama's email, since it could be a big security risk. Palin's email was broken into during the campaign, so hopefully with these precautions, the same thing will not happen to Obama while he is president.