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Silicon Valley Is Filling Up With Ex-Obama Staffers

Posted by samzenpus on from the beats-the-black-sea dept.

HughPickens.com writes: Edward-Isaac Dovere reports in Politico that the fastest-growing chapter of the Obama alumni association is in Silicon Valley. For the people who helped get Obama elected and worked for him once he did, there's something about San Francisco and its environs that just feels right: the emphasis on youth and trying things that might fail, chasing that feeling of working for the underdog, and even using that word "disrupting" to describe what they do. "A lot of people who moved out here were present at the creation of the Obama '08 campaign," says Tommy Vietor. "There's a piece of them that wants to replicate that." Vietor left the White House two years ago, and he and his business partner, former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, founded a communications strategy firm with a focus on speechwriting for tech and other start-ups. "If you're writing for a CEO out here, they're more likely to be your peer than your grandfather," says Vietor. "They're young, they're cool, they get it."

Other former Obama staffers who have come to Silicon Valley include former campaign manager and White House adviser David Plouffe at Uber, Kyle O'Connor at Nest, Semonti Stephens at Twitter; Mike Masserman, at Lyft; Brandon Lepow at Facebook; Nicole Isaac, at LinkedIn; Liz Jarvis-Shean at Civis; Jim Green and Vivek Kundra at Salesforce, Alex McPhillips at Google; Gillian Bergeron, at NextDoor; Natalie Foster at the Institute for the Future; Catherine Bracy at Code for America; Hallie Montoya Tansey at Target Labs. Nick Papas, John Baldo, Courtney O'Donnell and Clark Stevens at AirBnB, and Jessica Santillo at Uber.

There are so many former Obama staffers in the Bay Area that a recent visit by former White House senior adviser David Axelrod served as a reunion of sorts, with more than a dozen campaign and White House veterans gathering over lunch to discuss life after the administration. Obama himself rarely misses an opportunity to come to San Francisco. He says he loves the energy there, loves the people and according to Dovere, the city's ultra-liberal leanings mean he was greeted as a rock star even during the dark days before last year's midterms. Obama's even become friendly with Elon Musk. "There should be a welcome booth at the SFO airport," says Jon Carson, the former Organizing for Action executive director now at SolarCity.

6 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "They're young, they're cool, they get it."
    Translation: Fuck opportunity based on skill, this is a politically based system of finding the youngest possible candidates at the lowest price. If they are bandwagoneers, all the better.

    1. Re:huh by operagost · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's easy to write them off, but the fact is that we already have an affirmative action infrastructure in the USA, which could easily be adapted for every conceivable "protected class". Affirmative action should have been retired 15-20 years ago, once it had outlived its usefulness. Now, it remains as a dangerous tool of political manipulation.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  2. Just great by Sqreater · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Watch them destroy silicon valley with political correctness and hyperliberalism.

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
  3. Has nothing to do with idealism by NotDrWho · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Has everything to do with:

    1) Corporations' cozy relationship with politicians
    2) Ex-staffers promising companies inside info and access

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  4. Convenient lobbyists by phantomfive · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's common knowledge that Silicon Valley companies are hiring more and more lobbyists (especially ones that have a high need to change regulations, like Uber).
    Obama staffers make convenient lobbyists. They have connections.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  5. You could see Obama's character in '08 by MikeRT · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When riding high on his popularity, he voted for the telecom immunity bill. If he'd voted against it, he'd have been able to walk into the debates like a rock star because he'd be one of the only big names who actually acted on his promises. Even many of his opponents would have given him props for sticking to his guns.

    Ironically, if Obama had done even half of what he promised to clean up the government, he could have asked for a Cuban-style health care system and his popularity would have made it impossible for the Republicans to stop him. We've reached the point where an honest politician with balls could practically control the federal government just by sheer force of the people's awe at his honesty.