Two years ago George Bush told the world about things he’d heard on ”the internets”. Since then the United States president has progressed, becoming more familiar with the hi-tech world he leads.
This week, Bush expressed his enthusiasm for ”the Google”. In a cable news interview he was asked if he had ever used the search engine, and if he had ever Googled anybody.
”Occasionally,” Bush told MSNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. ”One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite and you can — like, I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google, reminds me of where I want to be sometimes. Yeah, I do it some.”
Google Earth’s online images of the president’s Texas ranch show a main compound with two outbuildings and what appears to be an outdoor swimming pool.
Bush, in common with other world leaders, said he drew the line at using personal e-mail, fearing the consequences of creating an electronic paper trail.
”I tend not to e-mail,” he said, before clarifying his position. ”Not only tend not to e-mail, I don’t e-mail, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. I don’t want to receive e-mails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s e-mail may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, ‘Well, I didn’t read the e-mail’. ‘But I sent it to your address, how can you say you didn’t?’ So, in other words, I’m very cautious about e-mailing.”
The interview has provided fodder for bloggers and online pundits, who have taken delight in posting clips of the interview and speculating about the president’s technophobia.
Bush did use e-mail before becoming president, but was advised to stop. Under the Freedom of Information Act anything written by a serving president becomes a matter of public record.
Bush gave the same reason more than a year ago to a gathering of newspaper editors. ”I don’t e-mail,” he said, ”and there’s a reason: I don’t want you reading my personal stuff. I don’t think you’re entitled to be able to read my mail between my daughters and me.”
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has no such constitutional restraint but has admitted being a technophobe. Asked if that was a fair description on a ”personal level”, Blair told a parliamentary committee, ”I am afraid that is fair actually, yes.”
Despite his e-mail reticence Bush has attempted to surround himself with trappings of modernity. He was pictured early in his presidency riding a Segway powered scooter. He fell off. He also received publicity when his use of an iPod was revealed — although it is programmed by an assistant.
Bush’s predecessor made more use of e-mail as president, although he too was wary of freedom of information. Bill Clinton sent two e-mails during his time in office: one was a test message, and the other was to the crew of a space shuttle as they orbited the Earth. – Guardian Unlimited Â