When I started my BlackBerry® riff the other day, I had no idea that Senator John McCain created the device.
That's a little surprising, as he doesn't know how to use computers or e-mail, but I guess when you've been a prisoner of war there's nothing you can't do.
Actually, it was McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin who made the claim. Eager to tout McCain's work in supporting the telecommunications industry as evidence that the senator has what it takes to fix the "Wall Street meltdown," Holtz-Eakin held up his own BlackBerry® personal communications device yesterday and told reporters,
"You're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. . . .He can and has the judgment to put people in place with technical
expertise, with the history of experience in the areas necessary, that
we're going to get reforms."
To Luddite McCain's credit, he apparently laughed when he heard the story.
Still, the choice of staffer Holtz Eakin makes you wonder about that judgment to put the right people in the right place at the right time. As for the BlackBerry® whatchamacallit, it's an addictive little device, judging by the new levels to which it's taken distractedness. It changes the way we talk to, and ignore, each other. But it doesn't think new ideas for us.
