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Monday, January 25, 2010

Media Obama's Blog Diet

Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 10:16 AM

He's not reading Slog. Yet. But hey, he's got at least three more years...

Obama is the first truly wired president, the first to have Internet access at his desk and to converse regularly via e-mail. This fingertip access sends him "constantly" online, said one senior adviser, and the information he finds there influences his thinking and some of his deliberations. He also "uses the Internet like a normal adult," said another aide, "reading news articles, checking sports scores."

As for what Obama reads online, his advisers said he looks for offbeat blogs and news stories, tracking down firsthand reporting and seeking out writers with opinions about his policies. Obama was particularly interested in Atlantic Online's Andrew Sullivan's tweeting of the Iranian elections last year, said an aide, who requested anonymity to discuss what influences the president.

Obama's favorite magazines? The New Yorker, The Economist, Sports Illustrated and Rolling Stone. His favorite television channel? ESPN.

But I'm still stuck on that line about Obama using the internet "like a normal adult." Careful, Mr. President.

Comments (18) RSS

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W never had the internet on his desk? I'm not surprised about Clinton because most companies didn't have intranet in the 90s, but I'm surprised about W.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 25, 2010 at 10:20 AM

Really? Incurious George?

Posted by rob!

on January 25, 2010 at 10:31 AM

It must really suck to never be able to look at pr0n on the interwebs.

Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty

on January 25, 2010 at 10:41 AM

@1,2 - Yeah, I was under the impression they rather isolated him from email and such.

@Dan - Yes, normal adult... waiting for that one time...

Obama - Hey Al [Gore], did you get that link on solar I sent you?

Al - Uh, Mr. President, with all due respect, that was tranny porn.

Obama - ... fuck.

Posted by STJA on January 25, 2010 at 10:42 AM

Yeah #1, W had internet, but the word is he never sent very many emails, preferring the phone.

Posted by razorclammer on January 25, 2010 at 10:44 AM

what are the odds that the potus has been rickrolled?

Posted by skiplogic on January 25, 2010 at 10:55 AM

"Like a normal adult" doesn't mean porn, guys. It means he blows off steam by leaving hilarious crack-conspiracy-theory comments on political blogs.

Posted by Christin on January 25, 2010 at 10:56 AM

He should read the Prop 8 Trial Tracker. He could learn something.

Posted by very bad homo on January 25, 2010 at 11:01 AM

Al Gore invented the internet because Bill Clinton wanted a more efficient way to obtain and disseminate porn.

Posted by Reg on January 25, 2010 at 11:10 AM

@9 - no, it was so we could get beamtime.

and figure out if the coffee pot was full - it's not fun walking half a mile just to find out there's no coffee and the soda machine is out of coke.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 25, 2010 at 11:12 AM

I bet he participates on online poetry slams.

Posted by rutabaga pie on January 25, 2010 at 11:54 AM

Yeah I wouldn't mess around with online porn if I were him. Michelle doesn't look like someone to cross.

Posted by madcap on January 25, 2010 at 12:06 PM

@11: How does that work? Just lots of ALL CAPS? Is THIS how one PROPERLY COMMUNICATES the EMOTIONAL TURMOIL within one's SOUL?

Posted by Grist on January 25, 2010 at 12:10 PM

@5, remember all of the stories about whether Obama would get to keep his BlackBerry after taking office? The most telling and weirdly saddest part was the line about how GWB gave up his AOL e-mail account rather than subject his correspondence to the annals of history:

Mr. Obama is the second president to grapple with the idea of this self-imposed isolation. Three days before his first inauguration, George W. Bush sent a message to 42 friends and relatives that explained his predicament.

“Since I do not want my private conversations looked at by those out to embarrass, the only course of action is not to correspond in cyberspace,” Mr. Bush wrote from his old address, G94B@aol.com. “This saddens me. I have enjoyed conversing with each of you.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/us/pol…

Posted by josh