Obama aide: White House tech is 'like going from an Xbox to an Atari.'

by Richard Mitchell { Jan 22nd 2009 at 12:00PM }

After running what can only be considered a very technology dependent campaign, it looks like the Obama White House is running into some problems. According to the Washington Post (via MSNBC), the technology at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is all hopelessly out of date or heavily restricted for security reasons. Staff members were greeted by six-year-old Microsoft programs and weren't allowed to use Facebook or outside email addresses. According to one aide, transitioning from the campaign into the White House has been "kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari."

We have a humble suggestion and solution to this problem: Get Obama an Xbox and an Xbox Live account. He could communicate with important officials from around the world and reduce some of that presidential stress. After all, it's not like the president has time to deal with friend codes.

[Thanks, Mark T. Original image: jurvetson]

Tags: fan-stuff, obama

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

a ham sandwich @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:09PM

its true. friend codes are teh fail.

Munkcy @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:12PM

And just think of the potential fun when Obama teabags Hu Jintao of China during a game of Halo.

EdgeOne @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:17PM

What a great way to solve international conflicts!!

Munkcy @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:25PM

And imagine World War 3 starting because Obama was spawn-killing Vladimir Putin.

bak @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:57PM

Munkcy said...

And imagine World War 3 starting because Obama was spawn-killing Vladimir Putin.

BWAHAHAHAHA. That put a smile on my face on an otherwise crappy day. Thank you sir!

Rick @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:15PM

Facebook? Lame. Give them a nintendo virtual boy instead. They wouldn't deserve an Atari

Nick @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:57PM

They can have an Atari all right.

An Atari Lynx!

BURN.

Mike @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:16PM

But the printing press is state of the art!

Bravo6 @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:25PM

No, no 360s in the White House. We would lose all credibility when the world found out that Obama threw a taco at Biden because he shut his xbox off.

offday @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:26PM

Republican or Democrat we can agree on one thing.

Friend codes are the stupidest things ever invented.

Neuromancer @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:18PM

What are you talking about, hey let's all trade friend codes!

Here's mine:

773217235897123985712893759812375981237598127359871239857129387598123759812735987123589712983579812375

See you online!

Ponokyo @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:26PM

Wouldn't giving him an Xbox Live account add to the already too high national debt? Give him a PS3. He could use Playstation Home to hold true virtual meetings and it wouldn't cost him a cent.

Neuromancer @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:54PM

Yeah and random dudes could come up and grind on him!

mgsrocks1 @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:38PM

I don't get people like you. Why waste time reading the article then making such a stupid comment no one cares about? Scroll down and don't fucking read the article then. So many complainers. Sheesh!

toonces @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:40PM

you're disappearing...

nathan-dts @ Jan 29th 2009 2:51PM

Does it really matter what console would be best for him? I hardly considered this news-worthy anyway.

Xav de Matos @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:14PM

Quincy!

ryan @ Jan 22nd 2009 7:11PM

Or he could have meetings via webcam.

wickedpheonix @ Jan 23rd 2009 1:22AM

Or Maaaaaaybe Microsoft would give Obama free access to XBL because the celebrity endorsement is free advertising worth millions? Ever think about that?

Studley @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:27PM

"six year old Microsoft programs"?

So? Office 2003 is still the best version in my eyes, much less of a UI car-crash than 2k7.

mynk @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:29PM

i like the new UI.
infact compared to the old UI, i love it!

its like going from the old dashboard to the NXE

KeegdnaB @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:29PM

I agree. I used 03 for years until I more recently discovered OpenOffice....hey there's an idea.

White house goes Open Source

jsutcliffe @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:55PM

I had good times with my Atari. It shouldn't be a problem.

SuIXide @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:46PM

I'm sorry. This article had absolutely nothing to do with the Xbox 360. Why in the hell was it posted? "OMG THE MESSIAH'S AIDE SAID XBOX OMG OMG OMG."

Not ALL of us want Obama 24/7. Can we PLEASE keep him out of our games?

Neuromancer @ Jan 22nd 2009 12:53PM

If McCain had won, the transition would have been more like going to an Atari from rolling down a hill inside a tire.

Xav de Matos @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:15PM

HAHA
You sir have won the Internet.

offday @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:55PM

Alright. This explains a lot.

joeybeast @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:06PM

That 100 friends limit is gonna bite him in the ass.

vidGuy @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:07PM

"weren't allowed to use Facebook or outside email addresses"

Thank god. Judging by the general ineptitude of government officials and their lack of technology expertise, I'd think the White House would already be under foreign surveillance by Chinese hackers if they had been allowed to access their precious facebook.

Justin @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:08PM

Hmmm... Maybe, just MAYBE, people that are busy working in the White House shouldn't be worried about accessing their FaceBook accounts.

And, I use Word 2000 all the time, it is still a word processor, and I am sure Microsoft would cut some kind of deal with selling multiple Office licenses to the White House. Or, ya know, they could FORCE Microsoft to just give up copies of Office, since that's the inevitable.

UNSCleric @ Jan 22nd 2009 1:16PM

Lord Messiah Obama

joefro @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:09PM

Come on PS3 fanboys...he was just MAKING AN ANALOGY! If he would of said PS to Atari. I would have still laughed.

Deck @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:38PM

That's too bad.. I would guess that he probably hasn't gotten to keep his blackberry either.

I recognize that there is security involved here... but I don't understand how the most powerful man in the world, can be expected to operate in today's day and age without the wonderful technological advances of our time. Its rather ridiculous if you ask me.

Mauricio @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:42PM

I wonder if Bill Burton used an Xbox analogy and Not a PS3 analogy becuase the xbox is an American Brand or because he is just a gamer that owns an Xbox?

Joe @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:43PM

They have evidently never worked in the gov. before. What they say that they hate about the Whitehouse is what a lot of agencies are still doing. Mine does. Sounds like some inexperienced people thinking that they should walk in and be able to do everything that they want to do.

SidearmS @ Jan 22nd 2009 2:57PM

The photoshop with the controller is nice, but you really should have photoshopped a PIPBOY on his arm. And maybe put a Rock Band microphone in his other hand too.

Just saying.

XBox 360 - Obama has gamerscore?

KaneRobot @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:02PM

Obama shit-talking on the XBox would rule. "I'M THE MOTHERFUCKIN' PRESIDENT BITCH! WHAT ARE YOU? NERD IN MOM'S BASEMENT? HELL YEAH!"

Deck @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:26PM

....uhmm... what? lol

imbecile pete @ Jan 22nd 2009 3:44PM

that picture is gold! XD

imagine if he DID get an XBL account:
gears 2....

*HEADSHOT*
OMG you killed the president!

lee @ Jan 22nd 2009 4:12PM

They may be 6 yrs old but a least they work lol. It is not like office is all that different year to year and the new one is horrible so I don't think it is a big deal

jas0nuk @ Jan 22nd 2009 6:47PM

Uh... six-year-old Microsoft software? Also known as Windows XP and Office 2003, still the best editions of both pieces of software?
Christ, it isn't that bad.
Rather than staring at graphical transitions for hours on end they can actually do some work.