Social Cache.
A Nemo blog. Dealing with uncommon cents.

My friend Jonathan Spalter, chairman of the Mobile Future Coalition and CEO of Public Insight, served as chief information officer at the United States Information Agency during the Clinton administration and has written an insightful op-ed piece for the San Jose Mercury News about Obama and that BlackBerry that may have to go to the tech bins at Goodwill.

“As President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take power, sadly one of his first acts as president may be to power down his beloved BlackBerry smart-phone. Why must the leader of the country that created the Internet, e-mail and various other advancements, be forced to forgo modern technology?
The primary concern cited is the Presidential Records Act, which requires all presidential documents to be put in the official record. This is a worthy goal to be sure, and Obama, who was widely acknowledged as one of the most technologically savvy candidates during the campaign, has been an advocate for governmental accountability, transparency, accessibility and efficiency. Still, the strictures of this act should not deprive our president — or our nation — of the benefits of his BlackBerry, to which he has been joined at the hip.

While the president is required to furnish to the national archives logs of telephone calls, and copies of all correspondence and papers, electronic and otherwise, our nation’s archivists have no need for concern that smart-phones can circumvent these rules. BlackBerry One would be fully compliant, as all phone logs and text and e-mail messages can easily be saved on government servers.

Discretion required

The trickier issue has to do with the security of the president’s cell phone. Hackers have listened in on cell phone conversations and downloaded smart-phone data. For situations when the president needs to discuss sensitive or classified matters, mobile and wireless engineers and the U.S. intelligence agencies have designed and deployed ingenious encryption algorithms for use on dedicated mobile platforms for his use. When it comes to his everyday use of his personal smart-phone though, the president, like the rest of us, simply will need to exercise good judgment and discretion about what he says and what he sends.

Obama’s effective use of technology platforms like the smart-phone is important for other reasons. He plays a vital role as a champion of progress and innovation. What signal would it send to international technology markets, and our own citizens, that the U.S. president is “off the grid?” The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently established that Hispanics and African-Americans are driving data usage on mobile phones and using wireless handsets as portable personal computers. It is ironic that Obama would promote policies increasing access to mobile technologies, but personally would be restricted in their use.

YouTube president

This is not the first time that our nation’s presidents have had to contend with an often technophobic culture in the federal government. In 1877, President Rutherford B. Hayes, despite strong misgivings from the White House telegraph office, installed the first telephone. The Clinton White House prevailed in a debate with the State Department allowing him to e-mail birthday greetings to the president of South Korea, rather than using snail mail.

President-elect Obama’s team has already initiated a march to technological progress — his weekly “radio” addresses to Americans have also broadcast on YouTube. Obama will also be the first president with a laptop on his Oval Office desk. By firmly embracing technologies like the smart-phone to engage people around the world, more efficiently manage his administration, and even occasionally check Chicago White Sox box scores, Obama will advocate a new era of transparency and innovation in American governance.”

Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in the movie ‘There Will Be Blood.’

Much is being made in the current election cycle of which presidential candidate will bring about change. The Vice Presidential Debate twisted and turned on which party’s presidential candidate was more of an agent of change than the others. ‘Maverick’ was a word that I heard a lot during the VP debate and it only came from the lips of Governor Sarah Palin when describing herself, Senator John McCain and their team. It suggests McCain and Palin will act with single-handed impulsiveness more than checking their guts. The Obama camp meanwhile sticks to its message of change and hope, something that sounds more inclusive.

It had me thinking that maverick is a word for describing an agent of change; after all it’s not a word we use often in common currency. But no, a maverick is defined as someone who is not inclined to conform to accepted rules or standards. It has its western connotation too – an unbranded range animal, especially a motherless calf.

De Niro as Travis Bickle

Stepping outside of politics and into the world of movies, maverick brought to mind three brilliant actors in perfect screen roles. Robert De Niro in ‘Taxi Driver,’ Paul Newman in ‘Cool Hand Luke‘ and Daniel Day-Lewis in ‘There Will Be Blood.’ Not that maverick is a word that describes the actors although arguably it could. The men they play in each of their roles are most definitely mavericks and notably the characters in these movies are all loners, they manage very well without help from others; there is no team spirit here.

As I looked up these movies online I came across a review of Cool Hand Luke that was prefaced with this paragraph:

“For the secret of man’s being is not only to live but to have something to live for. Without a stable conception of the object of life, man would not consent to go on living, and would rather destroy himself than remain on earth, though he had bread in abundance.”- Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

It seems to sum up Luke in the movie quite well – the authorities attempt to control Luke’s every movement and unsurprisingly Luke fights back regardless of the consequences that befall him. The review goes on – “Luke is sent to prison, and what follows is one of the greatest existential movies of all time. His conversations with God, the nature of his offense, his isolation and alienation, his experiences and a pair of profound scenes, both involving his mother, elevate “Cool Hand Luke” above most prison-break movies.” A portrayal of a true Maverick.

Meanwhile in ‘Taxi Driver,’ De Niro’s Travis Bickle, tortured by what he sees as a night shift cab driver, becomes a one man nihilistic machine dedicated to cleaning up the streets of New York, as he says “Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.” In ‘There Will Be Blood‘ Day-Lewis’s character, Daniel Plainview “is a charismatic and ruthless oil prospector, driven to succeed by his intense hatred of others and psychological need to see any and all competitors fail.” Real Mavericks.

In Hollywood this maverick stuff makes for gripping plot lines and thrilling movies but it should stay right there on the movie lot. A Maverick or two in the White House is a whole different storyline and that script should be relegated to B movie status.