“Today, a prominent American man will stand before an attentive crowd and outline his initiatives for the year ahead. His words will spawn a torrent of commentary and cause many to re-evaluate their own plans for the next year,” The Oregonian Editorial Board writes for The Oregonian. “Yes, when Steve Jobs tells the Apple apostles about his plans for a new tablet computer, it will be the event of the technology year. Oh, and the president of the United States will give his State of the Union speech this evening.”
“The coincidental synchronization between Jobs’ address to a San Francisco audience and Barack Obama’s address to the American people provides an occasion for an instructive comparison,” The Oregonian Editorial Board writes.
“One year into Obama’s presidency, it’s safe to predict that his words will be greeted with less over-the-top enthusiasm than those uttered by Jobs. There’s a Mosaic quality to Jobs’ choreographed presentations, as he descends from the mountaintop to address the faithful. This year, the simile is even more apt, as he will deliver a tablet or two,” The Oregonian Editorial Board writes. “Obama, if anything, is overexposed. One day he is in Copenhagen, the next Youngstown. He sits down with Grist magazine and with David Letterman. There is, for a sentient American citizen, no escaping the thoughts of the president. Perhaps a little more mystery — or at least, the heads-down pursuit of a concrete, achievable goal — would serve his purposes well.”
“Here’s another telling contrast between the management styles of these two American leaders: Obama’s White House today is expected to discuss terms of a partial, three-year freeze on discretionary spending by the government, apparently in response to the rising popular concern about the federal deficit and mounting debt,” The Oregonian Editorial Board writes. “But only a year ago, the president told America that ‘only government can provide the short-term boost necessary to lift us from a recession this deep and severe.'”
“Granted, conditions change with the times, but you won’t hear such head-snapping reversals from Apple,” The Oregonian Editorial Board writes. “Apple is very good about exuding a sense of certainty and resolve, even when internal debates are raging. It’s good at sending a steady signal and about keeping partners in line and on message. Nothing could be less like the ‘Team of Rivals’ style that Obama has embraced.”
Read more in The Oregonian Editorial Board’s full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: On a related note, FOXNews.com is conducting a poll asking, “Which Do You Care About More: Apple Tablet Announcement or the State of the Union?”
Current tallies:
41% – Apple, of course! Invention and innovation will fix America. Wake up, Mr. President.
39% – Neither, of course! Just another gadget, just another Obama speech. Maybe I’ll go see Avatar — again!
13% – Both, of course! This might be technology that changes our lives, and I want to know what Obama has up his sleeve this time.
5% – Obama, of course! This is about fixing America — who cares about yet another expensive gadget.
2% – Other.
Vote here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Politics aside, it will be amazing to hear these two speak today. I’m not sure if Jobs has the same eloquency as Obama, but no one puts on a better show than Jobs. Hopefully they’ll be equally great and this nation can move forward to bigger and better things.
Steve Jobs for Technology Czar!
One big difference. Steve Jobs can fire any fool that tries to stop Apple’s progress. Obama is dependent on us sending reasonable people who are willing to actually represent our interests. I have no doubts Obamas passion and goals for the average American are good. He just hasn’t been willing to go for the political throat of those who stand in his way. That is sad.
Obama is a Marxist, Jobs is simply a deluded liberal.
My very best wishes go out to both gentlemen!
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Our first idiot only 19 minutes after first post.
Rising popular concern about a 12 trillion dollar debt. Let’s hope so.
Steve Jobs under-promises, over-delivers, keeps focus, simplifies problems, can inspire while unscripted, works hard, delivers a quality product without going broke. Obama on the other hand…
One makes money. One takes money
jaundiced, that’s what I thought when I read your post.
Have a nice day.
Obama hasn’t reversed anything. This so-called “Freeze” is anything but. This would freeze the budgets of various departments at the 2009 level for three years. Sounds good on the surface, right? How soon we forget that those same budgets were increased up to 33% in 2009 from the 2008 level. Normally those “temporary” increases would have been backed down in 2010. So Obama’s slight of hand is doing an end round around these reductions to the temporary budget increases by freezing those budgets at the artificially high levels imposed in 2009, thereby actually increasing government spending for the next three years. Great. Thanks a lot. Thanks for putting the American people ahead of your own self serving agendas Obama.
I’m no Obama supporter but your statement, sadly, is a reflection on pretty much ALL politicians.
“Politics aside, it will be amazing to hear these two speak today.”
No, one man will speak to us. The other will read scripted words from a set of teleprompters.
And what the fsck is “amazing” about hearing Obama over deliver on his latest set of half assed promises? Even his own base doesn’t have faith in him anymore because they’re finally beginning to realize that he’s a poor excuse for a leader. Soon he’ll only be left with morons who think it’s “amazing” to hear him read from his teleprompters for the 145th time.
I enjoy MDN, but I would enjoy it more if they avoided unnecessarily introducing politics into the discussion.
Jobs also does not have to contend with an aggressive and destructive opposition in his company. No democracy either.
That tends to make it slightly easier to send a coherent message – at a cost which may be easy to bear in case of Apple, but with an entire country that’s a bit of a different matter…
Obama polished, no substance
Jobs authentic, no marketing Bs
On a related note, FOXNews.com is conducting a poll asking, “Which Do You Care About More: Apple Tablet Announcement or the State of the Union?”
Who cares about FOX”News”?
This political trolling is getting rather tiresome.
Steve Jobs is going to do a lot better at what he does than Barack Obama.
Check out:
http://www.itabletnow.com
for more info.
Jeez the keynote brought the whiny a$$holes out today.
Comparing an organazation run form the top down, with every person hand-picked by management to do the exact job they want is difficult to compare to a bunch of politicians who were elected to represent disparate groups of people, who then head into a system of amazingly nizzare rules, practices and closed door decision making to try to serve their constituents – all designed by our founders to be as slow and inefficient as possible in order to make sure no one and no group be came a tyrant.
Representative democracy automatically means you will not get what you want because everything is a compromise – and learning to live with a leader that doesn’t represent your every interest is a known part of this system, one that people forgot as the “me culture” rose up in the ’80s. You do not get to dictate policies to the government in exchange for your vote – this goes for liberals and conservatives alike. Let your representatives do their jobs of making compromises, or we will have this partisan mud slinging ruling over everything for another 20 years.
If only the White House’s mp3 player hadn’t had such a bad user interface. Their VP music store is actually quite good.
Meanwhile, Steve Jobs continues to be pigheaded about the Missile Defense Shield. [sigh]
So they’re asking whether you care more about your country or the announcement of a piece of consumer electronics.
If the answer is Apple, what FNC’s viewers are saying is that they don’t care about the country and that there is nothing that the President could say or do to change their mind (for want of a better word).
Well, if you don’t care and you don’t want to know, stop fscking whining and leave the running of the country to grown-ups.
Hey, you got your politics in my business…
No, you got your business in my politics…
I can’t believe the two are being compared. Considering Jobs’ decisions don’t affect life and death and he pretty much can do anything he want…
Hats off to them both. They deserve respect whether you agree with them all the time or not. Apple’s results speak for themselves. The USA, a bigger ship to steer, will require more patience before it’s back on an even keel. Are we not in a better position today than we were in autumn 2008???
Both leaders have accomplished a lot of good for their respective organizations and made plenty of mistakes along the way too. Everyone must admit that Jobs has a superb team working together (hand-picked), whereas Obama has much greater constraints, a team (mostly elected or inherited) that is far from united, and so many inherited messes that it would be impossible for any administration to clean them all up in 4-8 years, let alone a single year.
With all the vitriol aimed at Obama, it’s worth pointing out that 1) your investments have miraculously recovered from the greatest slide in your lifetime under Obama’s watch, and 2) he’s actually working in your best interest to claw back your hard-earned dollars from the self-serving fat cats on Wall St and in the Insurance mob. I don’t agree with Obama at least half the time, but in total, he is performing in America’s best interest at least as well as any president in the last 50 years. This is coming from my independent Republican AND Democrat-hating, fiscally conservative, socially progressive/libertarian point of view.
No human, including Jobs, would look good when sitting in Obama’s position. The POTUS (every one) is a big target for scorn by insider schemers and loudmouth/small brain “Joe Plumber” dunderheads alike. In a vain attempt to protect their tax loopholes and medical profiteering schemes, K-street is pumping out more misleading negative press against the current administration than ever before. As usual, shallow thinkers who are disgruntled about anything just eat it all up. How easy it is to blame the president instead of the real culprits of the malaise. Thankfully, the only criticisms Jobs seems to get are 1) he has too many fans, and 2) for those cheapskates, they think Apple product have to high of an initial purchase price (ignoring, of course, their long-term value).
So while Jobs competes against a few relatively unimaginative if not incompetent companies, Obama is constantly required to defend himself against things that he hasn’t even said or done. National politics really has nothing to do with shallow “liberal” or “conservative” labels, it’s all about the mighty corporate dollar. The only difference between the corrupt D and R parties are the companies that back them. The corporate masters of the puppet parties are more to blame for the gridlock in DC and the present fiscal pain felt in the lower and middle classes than Bush or Obama ever could be. Corporate America hires and fires, not Obama. Directly or indirectly, corporate America has more direct influence on your health coverage, interest rates, cost of living, and so forth. Don’t blame one person for unemployment or for your local bank refusing to loan because they were busy for the last decade gambling in the derivatives markets.
In the contrasting pleasurable position of corporate leadership, all sins are forgiven if you hit your quarterly numbers or at least offer admirable products. Jobs hits his numbers every quarter not only due to his stellar leadership, but also because of the aforesaid team that executes very well.
Obama naysayers: Please cite a specific law or executive action of the last year that you disagree with that was started on Obama’s watch. I’m truly interested to know the source of the haterade. I hate the fiscal mess we’re in even more than you, but that’s the Paulson/Geitner/Bernake/Wall St. mess. Not much Obama could have done, especially when both corrupt parties were pushing for the Fed to bail out their friends in 2008, months before Obama was sworn in.
At least one speaker will be telling the truth and exceed expectations!!!
Cool! Two great liberal Democrats today!
@ Mike………….at last an American with a sense of reason. So it hats off to you sir. Politics is a messy business on your side and my side of the Atlantic but at least your views give things a refreshing outlook rather than the dead-heads who merely blame whoever is in charge at the time.
Loved Job’s presentation.
As for Obama – I just wake up every day, glad that that utter a$$hole and $hithead Bush is gone & Palin isn’t a hairsbreadth away from the Presidency.
Things may not be perfect now, but can you just imagine if that knuckle-dragging, moron Bush were still around? You know, the a$$hole who put us in this mess.
Then, we’d be really f’cked.
At least one speaker will be telling the truth and exceed expectations!!!
Well, I hope you had your expectations exceeded.
iPad did what I expected a big-ass iPod touch to do. And it cost what I expected a big-ass iPod touch to cost.
My expectations will probably be exceeded when I see some really clever applications. But, on the grounds that I’ve thought of two really clever apps since the presentation, they’d have to be really, really clever.
Meanwhile, 3 hours drive north in Seattle, a popular liberal blogger calls for Steve Jobs as chair of the Democratic National Committee. http://horsesass.org/?p=24069. , citing SJ’s ability to focus on values and quality control.
And he just posted a nice short take on the iPad. http://www.haseattle.com/
He has readers in the Borg, go say hello, he already has a slew of wingnut trolls, no doubt a few more could be accommidated. We’re a bunch of hippie socialists up here, Oregon just voted to increase their income tax yesterday, first time in 80 years they’ve voted to do that.
@F.Maxwell
Just FYI, we’ve had ENOUGH tax increases here in California – we already pay the highest tax rates per capita in the country, especially when you consider taxes on business and sales tax. What we’re against is the out-of-control SPENDING by the single-party-controlled, union-dominated, liberal Legislature, condoned by our RINO Governator.
Liberal or conservative has nothing to do with ability. SJ is a liberal, and likely one of the best CEOs of the late 20th-early 21st centuries. BO is a much-further-left liberal, and his record speaks for itself.
Now can we drop the political stuff and get back to talking about Apple, please?
@F Maxwell
you are 100% correct. It’s time the loud reactionary minority of this country are given all the respect they deserve. A nano’s worth.
@emmayche – really? Is that we’re against?
And what has our worthless Republican Governor been doing for 6 years?
Personally, I’m against the Repug morons in our State Senate who just vote everything and have been causing log-jams for years and stopping any improvements from happening.
No one is perfect. Except for the perfect IDIOTS who call Obama a marxist, or accuse him of being responsible for the mess this country is in.
The Oregonian editorial board proves they don’t deserve their jobs to make such a comparison to begin with.
And the right wing nutcases who hate Obama? You deserve another four years of that boob Bush.
These right wingers really really sound silly. Are you for real? As someone wrote; please take yourself out of the gene pool.
oops – I meant to say “vote against everything”.
But I also should have said “obstructionist, no-ideas of their own Repug morons”
mw – think. As in I’m damn glad I’m a liberal, as that means that I can think for myself
What a surprise: Another Fox Newz poll discovers that people people who think like Fox, agree with Fox.
@ botoncandy
“[Republicans] vote against everything” That’s not cool. somebody has too. Our state is fiscally irresponsible and the Republicans are the only folks trying to control spending (for once). Believe me they are taking heat for it when it comes to passing the budget. The media were beating the crap out of them.
The Dems see no reason to control spending/decrease budgets. It’s disgusting. We are the biggest welfare state and pay huge amounts out to retirement/entitlements.
Our sad excuse for a Gov tried to reign in the Unions 3 years ago and they went on an advert blitz, the initiatives lost at the booth and Argh-nold gave up. I voted for him so I’m pretty upset to say the least.
@F.Maxwell-
“here are grown-ups in Oregon who understand that they have to actually pay for the things that they want.”
I agree with your statement, but don’t think (in Ca) taxes are the answer. Over the last 20 years, I’ve been shocked at how many expensive initiatives have been approved by the Ca voters. It’s a disgrace.
I’d vote for a tax increase if I was comfortable that our Legislators would decrease spending, and be more fiscally responsible. But I don’t see it happening.
Last year, Ca. decided to ‘temporarily’ withhold more from our paychecks. Boom- interest free loan to the state.
Ca is a mess. We have serious issues and I don’t think the rest of the union should be bailing Ca state out.
@Steev
The Repugs are not trying to control spending.
I’ll remind you that this country had a HUGE surplus when that a$$ Bush and the Repugs took over.
As for California – all those Repug a$$wipes know how to do is vote against everything. They’re not trying to do anything constructive – they’re just a bunch of obstructionist s.o.b.s
@Steev
Also – if the voters approve an initiative, that is not the fault of the State Senate.
But just for the record, I’ve voted against just about every single initiative in California since I’ve been old enough to vote.
Obama is a puppet on a string, can’t speak without teleprompters–even to a sixth grade class, steve on the other hand, may have it memorizes but at least he believes in what he is doing and producing, Obama he just waits for the jerk on the string to see what he’s suppose to say and do next
@ botoncandy
First off- can’t you express an opinion without slinging shit?
Also- Good for you, I too have voted down every initiative in Ca since the age of 18. But many, have passed which supported F.Maxwell’s comment inferring that the populace wants services/benefits but doesn’t expect to pay for them.
I for one am happy that the Republicans in the Ca Legislature are voting no against most (not everything as you state). The State doesn’t need to spend any more of OUR money.
Lastly, in my post I made a misstatement, meant to say “More Taxes are not the answer in Ca.” So apologies for the contradiction.
mdn dude, whoever you are, you must wake up angry every day. reveal yourself wizard from behind the black curtain so we can contrast your tough guy spew with your wuss like presence. ur sliding off the screen…….