WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama says he may be able to keep his beloved BlackBerry mobile communication device after being pressured to drop it.

Even though his lawyers and others have advised him to drop the e-mail device, Obama says he's reluctant to do that and Friday told CNN "I think we're going to be able to beat this back."


The president-elect said he realizes privacy issues threaten his ability to maintain normal communications. But he expressed optimism that, unlike President George W. Bush, he's going to be able to find a way to keep using e-mail after he enters the Oval Office.

"I think we're going to be able to hang onto one of these," Obama told the U.S. network. "Now, my working assumption, and this is not new, is that everything I write on e-mail could end up being on CNN. So I make sure to -- to think before I press 'send.'"