Obama: White House needs ‘cool phones and stuff’

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

President Obama loves the employees at the White House — but he’s not so crazy about the phones.

“I always thought I was gonna have, like, really cool phones and stuff,” Obama said Thursday in Chicago. “We can’t get our phones to work.”

Employing an exasperated tone of voice, Obama said: “Come on, 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.” Government information technology, he complained, is “horrible.”

The comments came during what Obama thought was a private session with donors. He didn’t realize his mike was live and his comments were being broadcast back to the White House press room.

Gannett News Service