“President Obama is meeting tonight with Apple CEO Steve Jobs, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, among others,” Preston Gralla writes for Computerworld. “Given that the dinner is being hailed as a discussion of the president’s efforts to promote innovation, and not just as a dinner for leaders in Silicon Valley, why was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer left off the list?”
MacDailyNews Take: Because it’s an innovation dinner, dummy. And, they already booked a creepy clown. Now, if there’s ever a dinner for buffoons who were destined for a lifetime of selling used Fords, but instead lucked into unbelievably fortunate dorm assignments…
Gralla, who writes for some hellacious Computerworld backwater blog called “Seeing Through Windows” – *gack* – continues, “Over at ZDNet, Larry Dignan has a list of other tech leaders he thought should have been invited to the dinner, including Ballmer, CEO of IBM Sam Palmisano, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.”
“Clearly, all these people, including Ballmer, were left out because the White House decided that geography would trump innovation,” Gralla writes. “But there’s symbolism at work here as well — the idea that innovation resides primarily in the Silicon Valley, which clearly isn’t the case. Obama would do well to host similar dinners throughout the country.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Unless Obama is planning on jumping around screaming and sweating profusely during his next major speech, Uncle Fester can’t offer him anything useful beyond a few laughs. We assume the point of the dinner is to explore ways of increasing productivity, not smothering it to death; to lead the world, not follow others around like a brain-damaged puppy dog. The country’s in enough trouble already. That’s why Steve Ballmer wasn’t invited to Obama’s innovation dinner, Preston.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Lynn W.” for the heads up.]
This pretty much says it all:
http://theoatmeal.com/blog/obama_meeting
That’s awesome. 🙂 Thanks.
Great stuff!
Hilarious, thanks for the link
Now THAT was funny! Thanks for the laugh, Vatdoro!
Great comix! =)
There would not be enough food or napkins for him.
Ballmer was just at the state dinner for the Chinese premier. I think the President has had an opportunity to hear his views.
Not to mention when he starts throwing chairs it might get ugly. Probably why Secret Service did not give him security clearance.
Maybe because he`s not very innovative?
Those companies all have huge sums of money overseas that they want to bring back into the US, but would have corporate tax rates of up to 33% on. They are lobbying for a 5% repatriation tax holiday for a year. CSCO is the deepest in the hole of any of the big guys.
No doubt there will be a quid pro quo – Obama will get some jobs (little j, not big J) press and economy building credit, and the Republicans will happily go along.
Why was Zuckerberg invited? Is he actually going to provide any insight on innovation or how to create jobs in America?
He started a really popular website where people can post comment. And there’s apparently doubt about if he even started it. He was just smart enough to steal the idea.
Think of him as the Minister of Propaganda…
> And there’s apparently doubt about if he even started it. He was just smart enough to steal the idea.
Zuckerberg took a page out of Gate’s playbook.
I looked up “rhetorical question” in my dictionary and this article’s headline was the example cited.
I wish you were right about the desire of the thug in the White House to learn about innovation, but the true reason for this is to shakedown the Silicon Valley CEO’s for campaign contributions so that the White House can continue its campaign to destroy the ecomony and the country. Read my lips: Extortion of Campaign Contributions.
That’s the funniest bit of satire I’ve read in a while. Amazing. I think you’ve outdone even the crazies on this site and I didn’t think that was possible. And you did it all without the “Communist Hitler” reference. Truly amazing. Have you got any more?
You don’t have to think Obama is communist or hitlerian to know that he is terribly wrong about too many things. This event is strictly for show. Obama is very practiced at setting up conferences and task forces in a very public way and then quietly ignoring the recommendation when they don’t mesh with his preconceived notions and predetermined course of action. Sorry, but this is more of the same. The problem for all the notables is that Obama IS the POTUS, and that generally means you attend as a show of respect to the office. I will hope to hear at some point how this meeting impacts the direction of our government, but I won’t be holding my breath.
Sorry, Spark. Your attempt at satire wasn’t nearly as inspired as dana’s. Try again?
Clever, if empty, comeback. Let me be specific: Obama formed a Bipartisan Debt Panel last year. They issued their report and recommendations that would cut $4 Trillion of debt over the next 10 years. Obama’s budget basically ignores the panel’s recommendations. Read this and tell me how the President’s presented budget, which adds another $7 Trillion to the debt, accommodates any of the panels recommendations.
http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/01/news/economy/fiscal_commission_final_report/index.htm
This was his commission. We have a fiscal crisis on our hands, and all the talk, meetings and commissions aren’t going to do a thing to fix it. It’s going to take disciplined, painful action, and neither Obama or the weak kneed Republican leadership in Congress is attacking the real issues head on. I’ll say it again, just to stay on topic: Obama’s meeting with Silicon Valley giants is merely window dressing. Everyone in Washington knows by now where the real problems lie, (unsustainable entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare) but they won’t deal with those realities. Instead we get plans to build high speed trains that no one will use.
Wow, you perfectly described George Bush’s M.O. to a “T”. Wonderful. 8 Years of raping and pillaging, a vapid puppet show of the village idiot on display wasn’t enough for the Republicans. Too funny! And what happened to your short term memory? Who was it that lied to us to get us into this war? Who was it that handed out contracts to his feeble-minded buddies? Oh, that’s right! GWB. Love up on it you idiots. You earned it. You made your bed, now have the good graces to lie in it silently. Asswipes.
I’m afraid we are all gonna pay for a long long time for GWB. I like obama, but I’m afraid there is nothing he can do to fix what GWB has done…
Spiff you sound like your on the wrong side of the issue. This is not a blog to show how ignorant you are about history.
Get a life!
Oh right, right… Sorry, here is this better. I hate Obama! He’s…. Um… Smelly! 😉
Please give an example of what Spiff has said that you can prove to be incorrect.
* Lies to promote the Iraq war: Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson claims that Powell was manipulated (I would argue allowed himself to be manipulated, but that’s a quibble) by the Vice-President’s office.
Given the lack of WMDs, the lack of evidence of production of WMDs and the fact that facilities that the American and British intelligence services alleged were involved in the production of WMDs were subsequently discovered to be abandoned to the point of rust being clearly visible, it could be argued that (even if you take a charitable view) that the intel “community” and their political masters were way too willing to push the US into war on the evidence alleged by people that we now know to have been puppets of the Shi’ite regime in Iran.
As for contracts and general incompetence: Halliburton, Custer-Battles and many others have behaved with wanton disregard for basic ethics – CB (grossly over)charged the US Government for the use of vehicles at Baghdad Airport as if CB had supplied them as opposed to the fact that they had been stolen. vehicles had been part of the airport infrastructure prior to invasion.
For general incompetence, it is estimated that of the $12 billion airlifted to Iraq in massive shrink-wrapped pallets, some $9 billion (75%) cannot be accounted for. Auditing of disbursements in Iraq was supposed to be contracted to a company called Northstar operating from a residential address in La Jolla which, contrary to the Coalition Provisional Authority’s own requirements, was not an independent certified public accounting firm and didn’t employ a single CPA on its books.
Good grief!!!
You really must take your meds earlier in the day.
definition of “politician”. No? Pick your flavor.
“Obama would do well to host similar dinners throughout the country.”
He does. He will be at Intel near Portland, OR Friday (the next day). Closer to Microsoft and Balmy is still not invited.
Meh, week journalism, Ballmer is not in Silicon Valley, Otellini also not there … did you notice.
Because Mr Ballmer is in Finland ?
Right continent. Wrong country. Ballmer was in Paris to receive an award from Pres. Sarkozy.
has anyone bothered to look at the trajectory of AAPL, the NASDAQ, and the DOW since Obama took office in January 2009?
All are rising like Mt. Fuji since then. Seems like *somebody* out there is happy with him!
Know what else is rising…
Inflation
Gas Prices
Food Prices
Commodities
Deficit
National Debt
Know what’s flaring…
Middle East and neither Obama or 3:00 am phone call taker, Hillary, know not what to due…
So much for the world loving us as the Obamanites had all prognosticated!
Hmmm… Weak economy at home and Middle East in Crisis… Can you chant Carter!, Carter!, Carter!…
Guess it will soon be time to bring back the misery index!
Those things are always on the rise, all over the world not just America
Wow.. the Sarcasm is a little thick here…
Microsoft um… Innovation? bwahahahahahah
“Clearly, all these people, including Ballmer, were left out because the White House decided that geography would trump innovation,”
WTF does that mean? Ballmer can’t afford plane tickets? Trust me, if I he had been invited he would have been there.
That’s right. Ballmer would NEVER pass up a free meal, no matter how far he had to travel to get it.
It sure must be nice being a billionaire and not worrying about waste…
Well, as a matter of fact, Ballmer was in France two days ago.
Then we should apologize to the French.
Messieurs et Mesdames, nous faisons des excuses profusément.
It’s easy to see trajectories; MSFT passed the apex a few earthly revolutions ago.
Ballmer’s tactics to success are obvious: Lie, cheat, steal, and when that fails, sue or buyout.
Jobs has turned Pixar from nothing into the stratosphere by fomenting undeniable innovation. He has done the same with Apple, and now Apple is poised to change the landscape of media distribution and communications.
If you were running the country, which person would you want to talk to?
Don’t expect much though. Jobs is a self driven visionary who chafes every door he opens. Obama considers himself a mediator and his ilk is the cause of mediocrity in Steve’s mind.
You are the biggest tool in the world. All steve jobs cared about was your money and his over-sized ego. The same as any ceo.
You have been tricked into paying for over-priced tat.
Since the purpose of the dinner is to pressure liberal rech leaders to donate huge sums to Obama’s reelection, Ballmer is fortunate he was not invited. And while Ballmer is a strange doofus, the dinner will be an awful meal consisting of inedible, non-caloric content selected by Michelle. And Obama will have a TelePrompter next to his chair at the dinner table. In this Ballmer is the winner. And poor Steve Jobs having to attend this awful strong arm fundraiser when he is ill. He should attend via FaceTime.
Because the thought never occurred to them?
Or maybe the thought did occur and they just couldn’t think of a reason.
Politicians can detect the same traits that they have. Lie, distort, lie some more, blame another party, lie rally the troops of respective party, lie, get own respective party to dehumanize the opposing party, lie, smile, have a writer make you sound great, spend some time smiling and lying some more. Repeat process over until you brain wash enough people to believe and lie enough until the other are in doubt.
Repeat until even the practitioner even believes it!
Hey, Ballmer- Obama is on to you! INNOVATION! LMAO!
He was invited, in fact he was number one on the list!!
He was just way to busy, he doesn’t have time for such silly things.
Any updates on whether Jobs was able to attend?
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/idINIndia-54983820110218
He looks good, I hope this is a pict of him from the event!!!
Good News, He made it!!!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/18/us-obama-meeting-jobs-idUSTRE71G3JH20110218
Did he go in a Honda Civic?
slightly off topic
I remember the days when Bill Gates was invited to every tech meeting, conference etc by journalists, investors, politicians, academia to give his views on “the Next 100 years of Tech” (or something like that) you know his books like ‘the Road Ahead’. People hung on his words like the Prophet from On High.
That always baffled me. The dude was a great businessman but ‘visionary’? He couldn’t even guess the next 10 years much less the next 100. Even when he guessed right he couldn’t ,unlike Steve Jobs, actually MAKE the stuff. If he did his company would have gone into MP3 players and Search (early), iPhones, iPads, Social Networking etc. Zilch. Everything Msft did was to follow up someone else’s idea and crush the competition with money.
Lol. You don’t know what you are talking about. Gates predicted that by 2008 most people would be using tablets. Certainly an ahead of its time prediction which is not far wrong.