# Obama Staff Flummoxed By White House Tech! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 22, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534 "2009-01-22T22:50:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/1 "2009-01-22T22:50:53Z")
[How can he be expected to run the country effectively when he can’t even figure out how to work the phone system!](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28787998/) > [@](#): > > calls to many lines in the West Wing were met with a busy signal all morning and those to the main White House switchboard were greeted by a recording, redirecting callers to the presidential Web site. :rolleyes: Clinton fixed all that! Doesn’t anyone remember the whole scandal which ensued when Clinton had a new phone system installed? Was Obama too snooty to ask Hillary how to use the phone? Or did she just tell him to “figure it out your own damn self, dick.”? > [@](#): > > A number of reporters were also shut out of the White House because of lost security clearance lists. Did [Ms. Dupree leave her purse with Spitzer again?](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/12/eliot-spitzers-kristen-me_n_91162.html) “Hope and Change” my ass, what we have here is the first of many clusterfucks that this Administration will inflict upon this nation in the coming four years. This _never_ would have happened if McCain had gotten elected! That man _knows_ how to get things done _without_ any of your fancy schmancy emails. The country is paralyzed and the _last_ thing we need is a President who can’t figure how to do his job without his “toys.”:mad: Lest anyone think I’m being serious here, I’ll point out that this is a parody of the threads about Biden and Cheney currently in the Pit. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/2 "2009-01-23T01:44:09Z")
Guess that answers the question about who’ll be picking up the phone at 3 am. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/3 "2009-01-23T01:49:50Z")
Speaking as someone who’s manned a few reception desks as an office temp, phone systems are unnecessarily complex and unstandardized. I imagine the WH’s would be doubly so. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/4 "2009-01-23T01:54:32Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Guess that answers the question about who’ll be picking up the phone at 3 am. 😉 I hate it when someone wins the thread early. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/5 "2009-01-23T01:56:57Z")
I heard that if you hit # at _just_ the right moment, you’ll get connected through time and space to the intercom on the roof right next to where Willie Nelson was smoking that joint during the Carter administration, and he’ll sing you a song. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/6 "2009-01-23T02:00:57Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > I hate it when someone wins the thread early. Sorry- I usually like to let the tension build for a little while but somehow **Vinyl Turnip** always gets in there first when I do that. Incidentally, woot! I won something! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2009, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-staff-flummoxed-by-white-house-tech/482534/7 "2009-01-23T02:33:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Guess that answers the question about who’ll be picking up the phone at 3 am. 😉 I hope they put a really top flight message taker on duty at the answering service.