

A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States - adityakothadiya
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2008/11/barack-hussein.html

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hugh
Flagged. Far too much politics on the front page already, and while this may
be by "A VC", the VC-ness of his perspective really doesn't really come
through in the article.

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jm4
Why is this getting modded down? He's got a legitimate gripe. This is just
some random person's thoughts on the election results. Does the fact that he
is a VC somehow make this on-topic for HN?

I could understand this being posted here if it was an opinion on how the
election will affect startups and small businesses. Or maybe if, as a VC, the
author could offer some kind of insight that might be relevant to HN readers.
The article offers none of that.

There are plenty of election discussions on Slashdot, Reddit and Digg. I think
it's perfectly understandable to want to keep these discussions off HN.

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andreyf
Fred Wilson isn't just "a VC", he is "The VC" in NYC:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Wilson_>(financier)

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jgrahamc
No, he's a VC. He's done a great job of promoting himself and his company
through helpful blogging and twittering but he's not the one and only
authority that we need to hear from and especially not about US presidential
politics.

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andreyf
_but he's not the one and only authority that we need to hear from_

He's certainly not the only authority (who said he was?). However, he
certainly is one authority whose opinion I am interested in if the community
so decides.

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jgrahamc
> He's certainly not the only authority (who said he was?).

You. You said he was "The VC".

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andreyf
Ah, I meant to say that he's the most important VC in NY, and so has more
authority than just "a VC"... but these are just semantic details of a meta-
argument, no?

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vaksel
the calmness factor is definitely a huge deal, you can't have a guy who shoots
from the hip in charge of the red button

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thomasmallen
Teddy Roosevelt: Shot from the hip, and was the antithesis of a calm man. He
had one of the greatest American presidencies.

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unalone
Obama's no TR. But I think that he has the potential to be great in his own
way. And I'm slightly _happy_ that it won't be in the "override Congress and
do what I want" way.

Not knocking TR. The man had class like no other. But he wasn't exactly the
most checked and balanced president we had.

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plinkplonk
Please, less politics on HN. Obama won. We all think it is great. Now please
can we take these endless political posts and arguments off HN?

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jgrahamc
> We all think it is great.

Don't assume to know what I think.

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bigthboy
Good Article.... I completely agree with Fred's positions and beliefs in this
article. I especially agree on points 1,4, and 5. In government especially,
and as President of the United States, its critical that you surround yourself
with intelligent people. The President is not the sole authority and there is
no way one person could handle all that. It's important that you surround
yourself with "the best in the business." In all fairness, it works much the
same in business. As a founder/owner and CEO, its important to surround
yourself at that level with qualified people to manage the technology, to
manage capital, etc.

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thomasmallen
Just because a VC is saying it doesn't make it apolitical.

