Barack Obama: White House phones not cool

Oval Office needs an upgrade

18 April 2011 12:37 GMT / By Rik Henderson

Barack Obama has criticised the technology in the White House's Oval Office, and specifically its phones and communication devices.

Speaking to a collection of donors in Chicago on the need for innovation in technology, the US President let slip that he was disappointed in the installed kit that he currently has to use.

"The Oval Office... I always thought I was going to have really cool phones and stuff," he said in an unscripted moment, which was accidentally broadcast to journalists in the press briefing area of the White House. "I'm like, c'mon guys, I'm the president of the United States. Where's the fancy buttons and stuff and the big screen comes up? It doesn't happen."

Of course, it's not the first occasion that the leader of a nation was caught on microphone saying something private while campaigning for a general election. Gordon Brown, who was the British Prime Minister at the time, was caught calling Gillian Duffy a "bigoted woman" before the UK's election last year. He subsequently lost.

That said, surely the President of the United States of America should have access to the very latest in phone technology.

Maybe he should try living with Android for a week.

Via: foxnews.com

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Phones, Barack Obama, White House, Oval Office