
PresidentObama on GitHub - joeyyang
https://github.com/presidentobama
======
pmalynin
It'd be interesting to see a system where a government had a GitHub and people
could submit laws as pull-requests

~~~
vezzy-fnord
Has a body of theory, but is still in very early stages:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Government)

That said, there would have to be some guarantee of an active political
process behind it. Most likely scenario is that it becomes a largely ignored
dumping ground, similar to your average petition site.

~~~
gelatocar
I think Open-source governance is pretty relevant here as well:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-
source_governance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_governance)

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joelennon
Let's hope he keeps the nuclear launch codes out of his code and in
environment variables.

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Kiro
[https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-
laws/issues/135](https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-laws/issues/135)

Interesting first comment.

~~~
hoggle
Github user saeedmalekpour:

 _Mr. President, I have been in Evin Prison, Iran for 6 years because my open
source code was found on a website the regime didn 't like. In the spirit of
freedom, democracy and the hour of code - please help me in any way you can
(account administered and message sent with permission of Saeed's family)
Proof:
[https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/518460637916446720](https://twitter.com/stephenfry/status/518460637916446720)

More information:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57pfl6nkD0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V57pfl6nkD0)
_

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clamprecht
I can't wait for the day when the president actually has a github account
before entering politics.

~~~
nfoz
Why?

~~~
clamprecht
In general I want more politicians to be engineers or math/science types.
Right now they're 95% lawyers, so they don't really represent the rest of
society. I'm an engineer-type so I want to be better represented, I guess.

I think it could happen. If Aaron Swartz had lived, I think he may have
eventually run for office. We still have some in the HN community who could
enter politics.

~~~
atlbeer
Could you not consider legislatures programmers as well?

Programmers create software. Lawyers create law.

~~~
jdoliner
> Programmers create software. Lawyers create law.

That's the reason I don't consider legislatures to be programmers.

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campers
He needs to add a repo for his Hour of Code effort!
([http://www.wired.com/2014/12/obama-becomes-first-
president-w...](http://www.wired.com/2014/12/obama-becomes-first-president-
write-computer-program/))

~~~
jonalmeida
Can you imagine the bashing the internet would give him? Or the comments on
how he should have written it in language x instead of y.

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billhendricksjr
His social media team is getting busy!

~~~
finnn
His most recent activity [1] is an issue opened on sunlightlabs/us-laws and
based on the link seems to be automated (uses ifttt's URL shortener,
presumably it's hooked up through that). I haven't checked the rest, but I
assume they're all pretty similar

[1] [https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-
laws/issues/135](https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-laws/issues/135)

~~~
adamnemecek
I'll just leave this link here

[https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-
laws/issues/135#issuecomm...](https://github.com/sunlightlabs/us-
laws/issues/135#issuecomment-66401632)

------
datashovel
Looks like I've found my obligatory "follow" on GitHub. It's probably going to
be far more interesting than following Linus Torvalds on Twitter! :)

~~~
datashovel
That being said, I'm extremely happy that this is happening. It has the
potential to bring alot of exposure to the idea of "open source" to
government. I think it can and will work if adopted. Hopefully this is a sign
of things to come.

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random8799
Reddit is the perfect example on why democracy fails.

If you culture/condition humans to behave/act stupid to appeal to one another
for affection, you garner no substance or value. Their deltas are null.

Perhaps a new society/culture/civilization derived from a categorical
intelligence is needed.

Then we could analyze our resources, grow our culture based off this data, and
evolve ourselves out of the current stupidity that exists today.

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kjjw
Amazing but I'm a little bit frustrated at the username he chose.
'PresidentObama'. One day he will no longer be president and then maybe he
will understand the difference between identity and value.

~~~
nodata
I think US Presidents keep their title.

~~~
dagw
Not officially. But most people and the media tend to make that mistake. If
you are talking about something someone did as president then it is OK to say
something like "while in office President Clinton did...", but if you're
talking about something Bill Clinton did after leaving office you should say
"Mr Clinton" or "Former President Clinton"

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ryanthejuggler
I'd be glad to see a public key on whitehouse.gov and a signed message on the
GitHub account. Anyone could register this name.

[edit] whoops, didn't realize it was a bot

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igonvalue
I guess the username BarackObama was already taken?

[https://github.com/barackobama](https://github.com/barackobama)

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junto
I'm trying to find the CIA torture program repository.

I need to report a fairly serious bug.

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smfullman
guess he doesn't like to work weekends.

