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Monday, March 3, 2008

Andreeson: An hour and a half with Barack Obama

Here is a must-read new article by Marc Andreeson, founder of Netscape, on his assessment of Barack Obama. He came away from his meeting with Obama with four distinct impressions:

First, this is a normal guy. I've spent time with a lot of politicians in the last 15 years. Most of them talk at you. Listening is not their strong suit -- in fact, many of them aren't even very good at faking it. Senator Obama, in contrast, comes across as a normal human being, with a normal interaction style, and a normal level of interest in the people he's with and the world around him...

Second, this is a smart guy.
You can see how smart he is in his background -- for example, lecturer in constitutional law at University of Chicago; before that, president of the Harvard Law Review.But it's also apparent when you interact with him that you're dealing with one of the intellectually smartest national politicians in recent times, at least since Bill Clinton. He's crisp, lucid, analytical, and clearly assimilates and synthesizes a very large amount of information -- smart...

Third, this is not a radical.
This is not some kind of liberal revolutionary who is intent on throwing everything up in the air and starting over... There's no fire in the eyes to realize some utopian or revolutionary dream. Instead, what comes across -- in both his questions and his answers -- is calmness, reason, and judgment...

Fourth, this is the first credible post-Baby Boomer presidential candidate.
One of the reasons Senator Obama comes across as so fresh and different is that he's the first serious presidential candidate who isn't either from the World War II era or from the Baby Boomer generation. He's a post-Boomer. It's very clear when interacting with Senator Obama that he's totally focused on the world as it has existed since after the 1960's -- as am I, and as is practically everyone I know who's younger than 50.

Read More: An hour and a half with Barack Obama

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