BusinessWeek discusses Obama’s plan to appoint a cabinet-level Chief Technology Officer for the United States if elected. The CTO would mainly spend his or her time trying to get broadband internet access into more homes (currently, only about 23 out of every 100 Americans have such access, putting the country as a whole at a lousy 15th place among nations). The CTO would also lead a new, $50-billion-dollar venture capital fund for the advancement of green tech.
The names that BusinessWeek floats as potential candidates for the position include Vint Cerf, the chief internet evangelist for Google; Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft; Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon; and Ed Felten, computer science professor at Princeton. Obama’s current campaign advisor Julius Genachowski is also in the running having worked as an executive for IAC. Lawrence Lessig gets a nod, too, and recognizes the potential importance of such a position; but he has signaled that he’s not interested in filling it.
Who do you think would make the best CTO of the USA? Cast your vote below and suggest alternative appointments in the comments.
Is anyone else surprised at some of the comments? Politics usually evokes a lot of emotion, especially this close to such a major election, but unadulterated hate? racism?
On TechCrunch?
It’s called the First Amendment.
Jason Calacanis.
With all due respect, Vint Cerf appears to serve primarily a diplomatic role as of late. The CTO position would be better served by a more hands-on executive.
This position is less about actual technology and more about its long term impact on the nation. What about Vinod Khosla?
Call me crazy but I think Leo Laporte would actually be a great candidate. He’s a well educated businessman who has centred his life in the field of technology and has built up quite the reputation. I think he would have the best interests of the general public in mind if he was put to the task.
COWBOY NEAL FOR CTO!!!!
Lessig will be the perfect choice as he is non technology bias and understands how technology is an artefact, a mediation in people’s lives. That would be a plus. Bill Gates thinks too much in bits, ordinary people do not think like this. We need someone who can bring value for the society as the role of the CTO would be to understand society above all and how technology can fit into it
Is this another way to find out how to add fees and tax online transactions or to sensor more of what is freely put online. I understand that some of the gunk needs to be dumped, but will our freedom world wide be hindered when a government hack oversees www? I am not comfortable with this. freethinkers beware.
It needs to be a billionaire who can pay out of his/her own pocket for all the meetings, studies, etc.., and can attract media attention to issues based on their prior achievements (Gates, Bezos, etc.).
This job will have no material budget, and no real line management and decision making. The rules of engagement on who controls what budget, who makes purchasing decisions, etc., have been refined for the last two centuries. Let’s not kid ourselves about what career politicians will do to disrupt the ecosystem in which they were raised (this comment applies to both parties).
You want net neutrality and a new broadband strategy? Make sure you have a good head of the FCC to replace the Christian-in-name-not-actions Kevin Martin. The only chance for change in a 4 year window is to work within the system. It will take 2 years just to figure out how the CTO interops with other folk, and at that point, you are already starting to run for re-election.
Oh joy!… more Government….
So in a Obama world, the US will:
- become Socialist (those earning more than $250K will have their wealth “redistributed” for the common good)
- impose wage controls on Execs esp. in Banks.
- impose price controls if things spiral out of control (and they will)
- wave the white flag of surrender in Iraq… the Democrats have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory
- wave the white flag of surrender in Afghanistan
- wave the white flag of surrender everywhere (esp. Iran, North Korea)
In short become a Third World country.
Wait… I live in Los Angeles… we’re already a Third World Country
Gracias amigo!!! Quieres unos tacos?? Tengo cerveza tambien.
So… Bill Clinton was a socialist and anyone that wants to return to his tax rates is an evil socialist?… Why the hell didn’t we know this when he was in office and were a prosperous non-socialist country that didn’t have to nationalize its banks?
How about Mark Cuban?
Richard Dawkins, so the US can become a secular nation.
padmasree warrior, http://en.wikip...dmasree_Warrior
she’s better than all of those men up above. period. smarter, younger, more accomplished and already recognized by the white house at some level…
she has run energy systems group (motorola) and she has worked in core networking and communications technologies (infrastructure side)
she’s articulate and accomplished, with a strong natural marketing bent.she’s also recognized for her interactions with math and science education – which is an issue of equal importance…
my pick regardless of who takes the actual office…
Al gore would make the best choice since he invented it!!
AlGore is busy eating his life away… He is the fattest customer of his restaurant!
Haven’t you noticed how bloated he looks?
I vote for “PC” from the I’m-a-mac-I’m-a-PC commercial.
Steve Balmer is perfect. The problem with Google’s and the others are for the general public they are just too technical, but when it comes to putting things in simple terms Balmer is the ideal candidate.
It is amazing that anybody would take this question or quite frankly anything that Obama says very seriously. Let’s see-so now the government buys up banks, crappy mortgages and is getting in the v.c business with $50 billion of taxpayers money? How did the “CTO” of California thing work out again? Oh, yea, he did a deal that got every single Cal. govt. employee a “license” for Oracle. Yea, the country needs a CTO.
Brilliant…
If it’s going to be a cabinet-level position, I’d like to see something a bit different…a Department of Science and Technology. Pull in NASA, move NOAA from Commerce to the DST, NIST, move USGS from Interior…centralize science instead of having it scattered all over the government. This “CTO” position could be a deputy secretary postion in the DST.
I am willing to bet that Obama puts more white males in his cabinet.
Interesting to note GWB has put more minorities in positions of power then any other president
“I am willing to bet that Obama puts more white males in his cabinet” Right, well, not on the Cabinet, but seriously, in the kitchen: waiters, cleaning floors, etc.
You are also overlooking Michelle Obama’s role: what do you think she is going to do? What Cabinet position would Farrakhan take? Would it also be a ‘CFC’ [Chief of Fried Chicken], OOOOhhhhh, so much to do!!!
Chris, you’re a racist idiot.
Jeff Bezos would be awesome, though it would also be nice if he could stick around and rehabilitate my AMZN shares.
Joe the Plumber. He knows a thing or two about job creation.
Bill Ayers. Just to watch Republicans’ heads explode.
Bill Ayers. Just to watch the White House [black house] and the Pentagon explode.
Wile E. Coyote
Anyone from google would make the world a better place, encouraging innovation and such. Anyone from microsoft would just be focused on getting windows into more peoples homes.
Also Techcrunch should be ashamed of itself allowing all these racist comments to remain uncensored.
Anyone can reach into my pants and beat my monkey anytime!! As I do most of the day, and night. Caliente!!!
You heard it here first – the CTO idea came from John W. Thompson who held one of the earliest fundraisers for Obama – he will be CTO.
jerry yang. everyone will become a yahoo and be adressed as dear yahoos, not as dear citizens
Some random thoughts:
- CTO should not be a cabinet level position. There is no way this job deserves the same level of importance as the Secretary of Defense
- Gates would be excellent IMO, but too much baggage from his days at Microsoft and everything he did would come under too much scrutiny
- Bezos and Ballmer are busy running big companies and would not take the job, and would be miserable dealing with all the politics involved
- Lessig would be a disaster – too much of a Microsoft hater and pundit
- My votes would be for Werner Vogels (current CTO of Amazon) if you could convince him to leave AMZN, or Greg Papadopoulos from Sun.
Wonderful…more taxes. I guess we’ll have to blame the naive college students when the federal income tax increases after Obama is inaugurated.
I would go with Steve Jobs…although I dont like him, he did do somethings which the world is proud of!!!
http://www.livbit.com
Bruce Schneier > Lawrence Lessig > Everyone else.
Richard Stallman for CTO of the USA! Let’s finally move past this idiotic ‘Intellectual Property’ regime, so 20th century, and build a new green information economy based on access to knowledge for all and payment for info services & customization.