President Barack Obama enjoys a tech-savvy reputation, but struggled to use an iPhone yesterday after being introduced to the technology for what was apparently the first time.

“It’s not clear he knows how to dial on an iPhone,” wrote the White House pool reporter after the President failed to make a call to volunteers from a campaign office in Port St. Lucie, FL, the Washington Times reports.

Obama continued to struggle:

Finally, Mr. Obama said, “Oh, I got to dial it in. Hold on, hold on. I can do this. See, I still have a BlackBerry.” The president then “had a little more trouble dialing,” the pool report said. The president then has more trouble dialing. When the call didn’t go through, he blamed Mr. Nicholson for having an insufficient cell phone plan…. “I just want to point out, this volunteering is not as easy as it looks,” Mr. Obama said.

In 1992, President George H.W. Bush, facing re-election, was mocked, unjustly, for not apparently understanding how a laser scanner in a supermarket works.

In this case, Obama’s befuddlement seems genuine, as he is used to using a BlackBerry.

Whether the mainstream media pounces on the story as evidence that President Obama is out of touch with the contemporary American economy is another matter.

Photo credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais