Marc Andreesen is turning out to be one of my favorite bloggers. He is always publishing witty insights both in and out of the tech & business world. He has a great post today on his meeting with Barack Obama in 2007. If you weren’t an Obama supporter beforehand this post may very well make you (Full Disclosure: I am an Obama supporter).
UPDATE: Lessig decided not to run….
One of the things that make New York city such a magical place to live is that there is constantly stuff like this going on.
I wish I had been there to see that, just imagine 207 people completely frozen in Grand Central. Awesome, nice job ImprovEverywhere.
The Republicans, on the other hand, are a total mess. Consumed by discussions of evolution vs. creationism (are they nuts?), inexplicable shifts in position (Rudy is suddenly anti Roe v Wade, wtf), McCain’s shift the the religious, and an evangelical Minister as a frontrunner (we need LESS not MORE religion). The only way this bunch of Republican yahoos could win the White House is if the Democrats destroy themselves in the primaries. Unfortunately I wouldn’t put self-destruction past the Dems as they have proven quite adept at that.
Back to Obama though, the other piece of news is Caroline Kennedy’s brilliant endorsement in the New York Times titled A President Like My Father. I believe her endorsement may be the strongest endorsement a Kennedy has given to a candidate in recent times.
Barring any last minute entrants (Bloomberg?) Obama may be getting my vote…
Joel Spolsky has another great piece on Five whys, a highly recommended read for all in technical operations and engineers in general. There is alot to learn from the Toyota example.
In the past my preferred model for technical operations has always been NASA mission control, but I will be looking closely at Toyota Production System for insights that can improve operational preparedness and response.
Joe Stiglitz, Noble prize winning economist, savages Bush in a must read article over at Vanity Fair. In the article he predicts a generation long struggle for America to recoup its position in the world, not a pretty picture.
Will the doomsayers win this time around? Or will the US pull off another remarkable recovery? Only time will tell…
John Stoessel has a brilliant op-ed response to Michael Moore’s Sicko in today’s Wall Street Journal.
Great reading and highly recommended.
I have always wondered where the dance moves in WoW come from. Wonder no more, this is absolutely awesome!
Walter Mondale, former Vice President to ex-President Jimmy Carter, has a must-read editorial in today’s Washington Post. Mondale details how he partnered with then President Carter to re-define the role of the Vice-Presidency, from backwater political office to the President’s closest and most trusted advisor.
Carter & Mondale’s re-definition continued through both Republican and Democratic Presidencies. Mondale argues that Dick Cheney has re-defined the office yet again. According to Mondale (& I heartily agree), Cheney’s re-definition has taken the VP office in a disturbing direction, from trusted advisor to a powerful political office that attempts to actually limit the policy options presented to the President.
Yet another scathing examination of a Presidency in tatters. What will be the future ramifications of Cheney’s Vice Presidency? Who knows? The best possible outcome is that it is forgotten, a grimmer possibility is a permanent politicization of the office and for future Presidents the loss of another trusted objective voice.