Obama Dishes on Federal Technology

What does the leader of the free world really think about all the high-tech gadgets and gizmos at his command? Not much, apparently. A clearly exasperated President Obama unloaded about government agencies' "horrible" technology at a fundraiser in Chicago Thursday night after the press pool left. What he didn't realize was that his candid remarks were being picked up by microphones and broadcast to reporters sitting in the White House.

Maybe the president has become so disenchanted with federal technology he forgot that media companies are pretty adept at recording stuff. CBS' Mark Knoller quoted Obama as saying, "I always thought I was gonna have like really cool phones and stuff."

Instead, "We can't get our phones to work," Obama says, adding, "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."

The Washington Post noted that Obama's predecessor had similar complaints.