Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by hugh on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @10:15AM
(#354534)
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.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by jm4 on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @10:41AM
(#354574)
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.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by jgrahamc on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @11:13AM
(#354601)
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.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by andreyf on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @11:16AM
(#354607)
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.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by hugh on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @12:16PM
(#354689)
Trouble is, there's hundreds or thousands of interesting people out there whose opinions on other matters would be interesting on this site. VCs, entrepreneurs, programmers, scientists, mathematicians, writers, et cetera. No doubt, every one of them has an opinion on politics. But I don't want to have to wade through them all.
What's Robert Scoble's opinion? What's Sergey Brin's opinion? What's Don Knuth's opinion? What's that xkcd guy's opinion? What's Paul Graham's opinion? What's that bald marketing guy whose name escapes me for the moment's opinion? What about Joel Spolsky? Or the auctomatic guys? Or the guy who wrote Python? Or the guy who wrote Rails? Or ... well, you get the idea.
I don't care about any of their opinions, and neither should you.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by andreyf on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @12:15PM
(#354685)
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?
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by unalone on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @11:39AM
(#354650)
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.
Re:A VC: Barack Hussein Obama, President of the United States
by bigthboy on Wednesday November 05, 2008 @10:36AM
(#354566)
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.
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.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Wilson_(financier)
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.
What's Robert Scoble's opinion? What's Sergey Brin's opinion? What's Don Knuth's opinion? What's that xkcd guy's opinion? What's Paul Graham's opinion? What's that bald marketing guy whose name escapes me for the moment's opinion? What about Joel Spolsky? Or the auctomatic guys? Or the guy who wrote Python? Or the guy who wrote Rails? Or ... well, you get the idea.
I don't care about any of their opinions, and neither should you.
You. You said he was "The VC".
http://www.alleyinsider.com/sa100/2008/fred-wilson
Not knocking TR. The man had class like no other. But he wasn't exactly the most checked and balanced president we had.
Don't assume to know what I think.