It looks like President Barack Obama might be a MacHead, because when given the opportunity to call out someone as the best example of a man who has achieved the American dream he picked out Steve Jobs over everyone else.
It was during a meeting with a group of reporters when Obama was asked about his controversial plan to “spread the wealth” and tax the rich. “Something that’s always been the greatest strength of America is a thriving, booming middle class, where everybody has got a shot at the American dream. And that should be our goal. That should be what we’re focused on,” replied Obama.
He then went on to talk about “celebrating wealth,” saying in part, “We celebrate somebody like a Steve Jobs, who has created two or three different revolutionary products. We expect that person to be rich, and that’s a good thing. We want that incentive. That’s part of the free market.”
Okay, we take back what we said at the front of the story. Obama thinks Jobs has only created two or three revolutionary products. He clearly doesn’t know jack about Apple, since its rich decades-long history of innovation spans countless products. The original Mac computer was revolutionary. So was the Macbook, the Macbook Air, the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, and iTunes. Need we go on?
Jobs is the 42nd wealthiest American, so he’s a good choice to pick as someone who has achieved the American dream. But if we were going to talk about a man whose wealth could be celebrated, we’d probably go with someone else. No one really ever ties Jobs to wealth. Sure he’s rich, but doesn’t every American, when asked about rich people in America, think of Bill Gates? What could be in Obama’s thought process that he’d jump to Jobs first?
Obama did meet with Jobs just a couple months ago. AppleInsider.com reports White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Obama was “eager” to meet and talk with Jobs. Maybe there’s a man-crush thing going on here?
Whatever it is, we now know what side of the Microsoft-Apple war Obama is on. Isn’t it so like a Democrat to go with the hipper, more trendy, youthful company? We kid, we kid.
