Washington's Ultimate Status Symbol: Obama's Email Address

It is now the ultimate status symbol in a town obsessed by status. Mr. Obama was spotted last week trying out his new BlackBerry -- or actually a more sophisticated, encrypted variation -- and aides say that he uses a computer in the study next to the Oval Office but that he has agreed to limit the number of people he would exchange e-mail with.In the process, he created a new measure for Washington to judge who really has the ear, or the thumb, of the president.