If you don't know who he is then you are too young, or too old. But if you've been following the internet since its inception, you know, when Al Gore invented it, then you know he was the entrepreneur behind Netscape. Which was a popular browser, no doubt engaged in mortal lawsuit combat with Microsoft, who of course always likes to have the shiniest toys on the block, even if they have to bully their way to it, and buy up all the other browsers on the block, and buy ice cream cones for everyone too..
In the 2008 Obama Presidential campaign, Mr Andresson gave the maximum in campaign contributions to Obama. I don't know what the amount was back then, but assumably some amount where you can use a 'fraction' and 'a million' in the same sentence. Probably not 3/8 of $1Million (does not have a great ring to it), though it might have been.
In the current 2012 Obama campaign, perhaps to hedge his bets, he gave $100K to the Romney campaign. Of course all of this is public record, unless of course the money went to a "Super PAC" which then can give money to anyone, and its all legit.
Is this the pulse of Silicon Valley politics? Steve Jobs, when hammered by Obama about caring about jobs in the US, responded that he didn't have any responsibility to create jobs in the US. Quintessential business, and the mantra of the last decade (and this) was "maximize shareholder return". Notwithstanding the cute "happiness index" that some economists like to play with - hey, beats Solitaire I suppose.But why would this Silicon Valley entrepreneur give real money to the Romney campaign, instead of to the Canmpaigner-in-Chief? I think Steve Jobs answered this question quite well, and for many business people. But alas, does anyone remember Mr Andresson? On the revered Tim Farley Morning Briefing show, he was referred to as 'Mr Anderson', as if he was one of those drones who control The Matrix.
This isn't France, and Obama is not a socialist. But businesses aren't in it to tend to the poor among us, or to tithe their income, or to satisfy the ole Democratic Party. They are in it for capitalist freedom, which the US still espouses. Now thats not in your Constitution, but maybe because of our Constitution, we have more private sector freedom that most nations. And the Andressons of the world would like to preserve it.
