Subject: [NEXTEL-1] President Bush Not Interested in Gadgets

From: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 16:33:29 -0400

U.S. President Relies on Staff for Wireless

While the rest of his staff use cell phones, personal digital assistants and
Blackberry devices, President Bush is not all that interested. He does not carry a
pager or cell phone, instead relying on his well-connected staff for the
technological advances of wireless. Aides say Bush is interested in what the
technology can do, but not in the actual devices themselves. However, Bush is able
to make his fishing trips more enjoyable - he uses GPS nagivation devices, fish
finders and depth readers.

=======================================================
President Bush Not Interested in Gadgets
Fri Aug 22, 2:27 AM ET

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - No pager or PDA hangs off his belt and there's no cell
phone in his suit pocket.

President Bush (news - web sites), like many
world leaders and business titans, relies on aides
to carry the high-tech gizmos that are a staple of
modern life. That's just fine by Bush, described
as intrigued by what technology can do but not
necessarily with the gadgets themselves.

Through his staff, he has access to the most
advanced technologies. The president, for example, doesn't experiment with
digital cameras, but a professional White House photographer is always
nearby. He doesn't need to deal with online banking or shopping because
his personal aide handles that for him.

He doesn't cart around today's keep-in-touch tools because someone is
always nearby with communication equipment, and secure telephone lines
are set up everywhere he goes by a White House office created just for that
purpose.

"He's not one of these who has to have the latest and greatest model," said
communications director Dan Bartlett, a close presidential confidant and a
10-year Bush employee. He placed Bush "about mainstream" on the
spectrum of people who can barely operate their VCR to those always eager
for technology's latest rage.

For Bush, who came to the White House with an MBA degree and a desire
to run government like a business, technology has more a functional than
recreational appeal.

Earlier this year, for instance, when a reporter touring Bush's ranch showed
off a new camera-equipped personal digital assistant, the president
responded with little more than polite interest. "Oh, fantastic," he said. "I
notice telephones have got that now."

Bush's aides say he hasn't shown any desire to download music from the
Internet or buy a portable digital music player. No one has seen a digital
television recording system in either his White House or Texas residences.

Instead, as an example of his personal use of technology, several cited
Bush's affinity for good fishing gear, such as a GPS navigation device,
fish-finders and depth readers on his boat — equipment that has been
around for years.

Still, Bush is not out of techno-touch.

He was once a prolific e-mailer. It was only after lawyers told him his
presidential e-mail communications would become subject to legal and
archival requirements that he signed off from cyberspace, just before taking
office in January 2001. The president's staff, even at the highest levels,
remain e-mail users despite the requirements.

In June, Bush and family tried out the upright Segway Human Transporter,
hyped by its inventor as potentially revolutionary for short-distance travel, in
the driveway of his parents' Kennebunkport, Maine, home.

And on the way back from a recent Europe and Middle East trip, Bush
excitedly pointed out a new videoconferencing system on Air Force One that
now allows real-time, secure conversations via a wall-mounted screen in his
airborne office.

Bush also loves Camp David's similar but even-snazzier system, which has
a voice-detecting camera that turns toward whoever is speaking. During one
early wartime session when British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web
sites) was visiting, the president was said to be impressed at the ability to
simultaneously pull in commanders from the field, Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld from the Pentagon (news - web sites) and Blair's people
back at 10 Downing Street in London.

"He's no Al Gore (news - web sites)," said one Bush aide, comparing his
boss to the former vice president known for his love of high-tech gadgetry,
"but he's very serious about having all this stuff work."

So Bush's staff has worked overtime to upgrade White House technology. In
part, the effort is in recognition of the president's well-known irritation with
inefficiencies such as phone lines dropping in mid-conversation or
unreachable staffers.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when the president crisscrossed the
country on Air Force One amid a maze of confusing developments, spurred
on the effort to modernize White House communications, deputy chief of
staff Joe Hagin said.

Most changes have focused on adding clarity, reach and consistency to
communications systems, Hagin said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=528&ncid=528&e=2&u=/ap/20030822/ap_on_go_pr_wh/non_techie_president

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