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| Home Front: Politix |
| Steve Jobs Biography Reveals He Told Obama, 'You're Headed For A One-Term Presidency' |
| 2011-10-21 |
| Warning, the link goes to one of those places. Jobs' Meeting With Obama Jobs, who was known for his prickly, stubborn personality, almost missed meeting President Obama in the fall of 2010 because he insisted that the president personally ask him for a meeting. Though his wife told him that Obama "was really psyched to meet with you," Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days. When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative. "You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them. You mean it's not really those mean nasty workers who insist on being paid more than sustenance wages? Not that we'll be able to afford more once we're done decapitalizing the industries for other reasons... Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year. It occurs to me that if we had the 11 month school year, or manufacturing in China, when Jobs was in high school, he'd have never gotten that first summer job working at Hewlett Packard. It probably wasn't that great, but you know, your first job never is, and you're better off getting that particular experience out of the way at fifteen than you are at twenty-five. Aiding Obama's Reelection Campaign Jobs suggested that Obama meet six or seven other CEOs who could express the needs of innovative businesses -- but when White House aides added more names to the list, Jobs insisted that it was growing too big and that "he had no intention of coming." In preparation for the dinner, Jobs exhibited his notorious attention to detail, telling venture capitalist John Doerr that the menu of shrimp, cod and lentil salad was "far too fancy" and objecting to a chocolate truffle dessert. But he was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie. Though Jobs was not that impressed by Obama, later telling Isaacson that his focus on the reasons that things can't get done "infuriates" him, they kept in touch and talked by phone a few more times. Jobs even offered to help create Obama's political ads for the 2012 campaign. "He had made the same offer in 2008, but he'd become annoyed when Obama's strategist David Axelrod wasn't totally deferential," writes Isaacson. Jobs later told the author that he wanted to do for Obama what the legendary "morning in America" ads did for Ronald Reagan. Which means that he was going to be doubling-down on all the things he said he didn't like. I guess that's life, though. |
| Posted by:Thing From Snowy Mountain |
| #8 We can only hope Jobs is right. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2011-10-21 19:17 |
| #7 rj - see: Kitty Kelley |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-10-21 15:35 |
| #6 Gotta wonder what kind of crazy damage a biographer could do to someones reputation when they worked so closely with the person then the person died and can no longer claim "I didn't say that!" Not suggesting thats what happened but the potential would certainly be there. I hope the biographer has lots of audiotape to backup every political claim. Just saying. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2011-10-21 15:14 |
| #5 Given Jobs' recent deification, this adds a lot to the dog pile on Bammo. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2011-10-21 13:51 |
| #4 Must be that Bay Area influence. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2011-10-21 13:25 |
| #3 Yup, then he turned around and offered to help the Democrat implementing all the policies he was complaining about. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2011-10-21 13:08 |
| #2 Wow... Jobs almost sounded .... Republican. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2011-10-21 12:24 |
| #1 Raging narcissists clash. Surprise... |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-10-21 12:09 |