socialmedian: 5 Signs President-Elect Obama Is a Geek

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Source: Geekdad

Nov 06, 2008

Summary

Barack Obama, soon to become the 44th President of the U.S.A., is many things: a statesman, a lawyer, an author, and an orator. It is also our opinion at GeekDad that, even without knowing him personally, we have enough evidence to demonstrate that he is a big geek. Even if you didn't want him to win the election, you have to admit that it would be awesome for him to not only be the first African-American President, but also the first geek President. Here, then, is our evidence:

1. Obama has pledged to create a cabinet-level Chief Technology Officer for the country. The U.S. CTO would be responsible for making broadband technology readily available to every U.S. citizen, and for fighting the telcos for net neutrality. While this is admirable for many reasons, it seems to us that nobody would make this a central point of his presidential campaign unless he were, on some level, a geek.

2. He is a big fan of Star Trek. He said himself: "I grew up on Star Trek. I believe in the final frontier." And, when Leonard Nimoy was the guest on NPR's "Wait Wait...Don't Tell

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Comments (21)

Michaelfidler,

Nov 06, 2008

This is great!

Adelinejoie,

Nov 06, 2008

i love this!

Greghollingsworth,

Nov 06, 2008

Honestly, just look at him. He's totally a geek.

The Puck,

Nov 06, 2008

And the geek shall inherit the earth :p

Neophile,

Nov 06, 2008

Love it, now he must marry geekdom with coherent policy making, eg Nat'l Broadband Strategy

Ex Modia,

Nov 06, 2008

And all this time I thought he was a policy wonk.

Ex Modia,

Nov 06, 2008

I suppose he can be both. Hmmm...what do you get when you cross a geek with a policy wonk? A geenk? A weenk? A gweenk?

Sina,

Nov 06, 2008

Geek is Good - he's simply "one of us" :-)

The Puck,

Nov 06, 2008

@Sina lol I just had a vision of Freaks..."One of us, one of us."

Sina,

Nov 06, 2008

@thePuck Freak and Geek in one single sentence is acceptable - "freaky geek" - or - "geek freak" - which do you think he prefer? ;-)

The Puck,

Nov 06, 2008

Hmm...I dunno. I do know, however, that one of the things I was able to convince some people to vote for him for was "The man has a Twitter account, a blog, and an iPhone. This is someone I can understand". It's as irrational as the red-staters "I like Bush, he's the kind of guy I can have a beer with" kind of thinking, but it is nice to indulge in when you know it is just icing on the cake.

Sina,

Nov 06, 2008

@thePuck You're right on... If you understand someone, be sure that the person understands you. That's the criteria for a successful leader - and he was very clear to reflect that to the people - that he is an understandable (bright) individual that will join the split individuality into "us, the people", and not "you, the people".

Shadmia,

Nov 07, 2008

@Geekdad. Good find! I enjoyed that immensely

Ex Modia,

Nov 07, 2008

@thePuck Wow! I used nearly that same argument with my internet-addicted best friend. I told him, "The only twit on McCain's campaign is Sarah Palin."

The Puck,

Nov 07, 2008

@exModia ROFL, that's a good one. I also talked about McCain sending a telegram to cancel and engagement, complete with Morse code noises to show the ridiculousness of it. She kept talking about McCain's superior experience, and I pointed out that it was experience in a world that doesn't exist anymore.

Sina,

Nov 07, 2008

@thePuck "/.../ sending a telegram to cancel and engagement, complete with Morse code noises /.../" It's simply just to early in the morning to start the jokes... I was falling of my chair - easy my friend, easy =P

The Puck,

Nov 07, 2008

@Sina Laughter is better than coffee...my cats awoke me at 3:30 am, without humor I may go on a killing spree.

Michaelfidler,

Nov 08, 2008

I haven't been on this tread since I clipped it but, I'm glad so many people enjoyed it!

Sumanth,

Nov 27, 2008

I'm Lovin it :P

Michaelfidler,

Nov 27, 2008

@sumanth I'm really sorry about what happened there, and it's nice to see you took a moment to laugh. What's the mood like over there today? It's hard to tell from all the tweets. You guys will be in my thoughts today, regardless!

Sumanth,

Nov 28, 2008

@michaelfidler . Its really tragic. Today the operations are on. Officials say, they clear it up in a couple of hours. Some hostages are to be rescued. Hope it will be done soon.