The iPad gets the Presidential seal of approval

President Barack Obama has joined the 15-or-so million people in the iPad nation. He was recently photographed carrying the iPad with an Apple smart cover.

Last month, the President told Univision’s Jorge Ramos that he owns an iPad, and joked that of course he has his own computer (reportedly a MacBook Pro).

And it seems Obama’s iPad may have come with a presidential perk. A CNN photographer says he saw the president using an iPad in the Oval Office not long after he had dinner with Steve Jobs… way back in February. The iPad 2 wasn’t released until March 11.

It took the tech-savy president a little long to get on-board with the iPad though. Just last May, during a commencement address at Hampton University, Obama said, “With iPods and iPads and Xboxes and PlayStations, none of which I know how to work, information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment rather than a tool of empowerment, rather than the means of emancipation.”

Obama’s history with the iPad continued last October, at a rally in Seattle. Waiting in the audience was Sly Cann, who got Obama to autograph his iPad screen.

Obama’s use of the iPad makes sense, as he is truly a president of the 21st century. He is the first sitting president to regularly use email (Bill Clinton sent two emails in office, George W. Bush sent none) or a smartphone (his beloved, specially secure BlackBerry), he tweets (to over 7.5 million followers) and his Facebook page has over 19 million fans.

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