Meeting of the Minds: Obama and Steve Jobs
Today, President Obama visits the land of high-tech moguls in Silicon Valley. He will be hosted at the Palo Alto, CA residence of Google executive Marissa Mayer and at another private residence in Atherton, CA for some hefty fundraising activities.
However, the highlight of his Western campaign swing may be a chat with Apple's Steve Jobs.
Bloomberg reported that Mr. Obama and Jobs are meeting to discuss the economy and technology issues. Perhaps the president is hoping that Jobs will hand over one of the new, sleek MacBook Air laptop introduced on Wednesday.
The two executives share similar traits in their self-confidence and in their intellect and vision. In an article about Mr. Obama Peter Baker wrote, "One prominent Democratic lawmaker told me Obama's problem is that he is not insecure -- he always believes he is the smartest person in any room and never feels the sense of panic that makes a good politician run scared all the time, frenetically wooing lawmakers, power brokers, adversaries and voters as if the next election were a week away."
Steve Jobs also comes off as the smartest person in the room, and doesn't appear to have a panic mode. During his legendary career he has danced to his own drummer, unwavering from his vision of what personal computing products should be.
In a similar vein, Mr. Obama has persisted in getting legislation, such as healthcare reform, passed despite tremendous opposition from lawmakers and voters and political fallout.
Unlike Mr. Obama, who is having problems wooing lawmakers and voters, Jobs appears to have little trouble wooing his employees and customers. He has also been known to run circles around industry power brokers in bringing iTunes and the iPhone to life. And, maybe the secretive, press-averse Jobs has a few tips for the president on how to deal better with press, who scrutinize his every move.
