Obama: I Read My Bad Press, Not Good Press

President-elect Obama said he often reads bad press about himself and avoids the good press so that he can stay outside the information “bubble.”

“I think it’s important not to live in the bubble, so you’ve got to be open to outside information, particularly criticism,” he told CNBC on Wednesday. “I’ll tell you, I very rarely read good press. I often read bad press, not because I agree with it, but because I want to get a sense of, ‘Are there areas where I’m falling short and I can do better?'”

When CNBC’s John Harwood pointed out that he hasn’t gotten much bad press, Obama said he’s sure it’s coming.

The president-elect added that he’s paying particular attention to economic news and “market psychology, because part of what we have right now is such a loss of trust in both the marketplace and in government that restoring that confidence, restoring that trust is going to be very important.”

But Obama said he’ll be focusing on the long-term economic picture.

“I’m not going to be probably watching the crawl at the bottom of an interview,” he said. “What I will be doing is making sure that I’m communicating with key market participants on a regular basis, again, to explain to them what exactly our plans are and to solicit from them good ideas.

“And overall, though, one thing I’m pretty clear about is that as president I’ve got to be looking out at the horizon. I can’t be looking at today’s headlines, because if I do then I’m probably not going to make decisions based on what’s best for the country. I’m going to be spending a lot of time worrying about day-to-day politics, and that’s something that I’ve been trying to block out.”

Obama also told Harwood that he’s still fighting to keep his Blackberry, which he may have to relinquish because of concerns over security and his presidential records.