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

by Richard Mitchell on Jan 22nd 2009 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 According to the Washington Post (via MSNBC), the technology at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is all hopelessly out of date or heavily restricted for security reasons.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]

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Tags: fan-stuff, obama

Reader Comments (46)

its true. friend codes are teh fail.

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

What a great way to solve international conflicts!!

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

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!

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

They can have an Atari all right.

An Atari Lynx!

BURN.

But the printing press is state of the art!

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.

Republican or Democrat we can agree on one thing.

Friend codes are the stupidest things ever invented.

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

Here's mine:

773217235897123985712893759812375981237598127359871239857129387598123759812735987123589712983579812375

See you online!

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.

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

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!

you're disappearing...

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

Quincy!

Or he could have meetings via webcam.

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

"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.

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

its like going from the old dashboard to the NXE

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

White house goes Open Source

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

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?

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

HAHA
You sir have won the Internet.

Alright. This explains a lot.

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

"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.

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.

Lord Messiah Obama

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

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.

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?

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.

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?

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

....uhmm... what? lol

that picture is gold! XD

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

*HEADSHOT*
OMG you killed the president!

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

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.

Maybe I'm just stupid, but why is it from an Xbox to an Atari? If it's out of date, shouldn't it be an Atari to an Xbox? Or is it from secure to more lenient (does that work?)?

Please someone explain to me.

Its like going from Xbox to Atari because Obamas campain was used to high level of tech but now moving into the white house there is a much lower level of tech (well at least the facebook kind of tech)
hence Xbox -> Atari

Yeah I wouldn't mind kicking his ass on Gears 2 over XBL then taping & put it on Youtube, omg that would be epic win.

6 y/o MS technology? So they're using Windows XP and Office 2003 like the rest of the world is I see...

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

Reader Comments (46)

Posted: Jan 22nd 2009 12:09PM spasewalkr said

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