Pre-Obama White House in Tech Stone Age

When stepping into the White House for the first time, Obama's staff -currently residing in the Digital Age- found itself entering a dismal, analog world.

If you followed the Obama campaign over the last few years, one feature stood out over all the other candidates: Barack Obama is a digital politician. From his official YouTube page to the campaign's constant interaction with followers through sites like Facebook, the Internet helped get Obama elected without a doubt.

While the Oval Office may not have the latest Pioneer Kuro Plasma TV or PlayStation 3, one would suspect that the office of the President, along with the rest of the White House, would be somewhat up to snuff when it comes to hardware and software. However, according to the Washington Post, the White House has not kept up on the technological times. While the former President and his staff may share some of the blame, many problems root from security and the ability to record all official work as stated in the Presidential Records Act.

With laptops hard to find, no Macs in sight, and sending email a near impossibility, the new staff is certainly out of its element. For the last two years, MacBooks, Twitter, and BlackBerry devices have been at the heart of Team Obama. Even the phones were offline when the new staff was moving in. "It is kind of like going from an Xbox to an Atari," said Obama spokeman Bill Burton. Wi-Fi is nowhere in sight for security reasons, and according to Gizmodo, even the iTunes Store is blocked. Given that the staff has only been in the White House since Tuesday afternoon, the chaos will likely subside and the staffers will get whatever technology they need to get their jobs done.

Another point on the minds of many geeks is whether or not Obama will have a dedicated computer in his office. Going off of the Bush and Clinton administrations, the answer is likely no. Sure, Obama will have access whenever he needs it, but don't expect to see a MacBook Pro or Lenovo Thinkpad on the Oval Office desk anytime soon.