Why Do Former Presidents And Politicians Need “Jobs”? And How Do They Manage To Find Them In Silicon Valley?

I got a good chuckle out of this today, “Obama hints at a future in VC“:

“had I not gone into politics, I’d probably be starting some kind of business,” said Obama. “The skill set of starting my presidential campaigns—and building the kinds of teams that we did and marketing ideas—I think would be the same kinds of skills that I would enjoy exercising in the private sector. … The conversations I have with Silicon Valley and with venture capital pull together my interests in science and organization in a way I find really satisfying.”

The rest of the article contains quotes from VCs good-humoredly sniffing Obama’s jock strap and suggesting candidly that he would make an excellent high risk capital allocator. I don’t even need to provide examples of why these disclosures are a bunch of bald-faced lies. You can make up your own punchlines.

Instead, I am pondering the following: does something like this represent a sign of how crony Silicon Valley is and how dependent upon government privilege it is for the profit it generates? Or does it represent how pragmatic this community of businessmen is in co-opting the enemy that is continually placing new obstacles on its road to riches?

I am not sure I am comfortable with either reality but the latter has merit in that one could at least argue one is acting in self-defense, and that’s more noble than getting behind the guns and pointing them at competitors and customers as in the case of the former.