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The American CTO. Not the Technology Czar?

saw this on techcrunch. Business week is talking about soon to be President Obama’s plan to create a cabinet level post of CTO, and who the front runners are for the job.

The top names according to BW are:

Vint Cerf – Cheif Internet Evangelist for Google. I’m not sure I want some one from Google in that position. Google’s great and all “Do no evil” but I’m getting less and less convinced as time goes by that their motives are so altruistic.

Steve Balmer – uh no. Maybe CCO; Chief Crazy Officer, but CTO? Sorry Steve, you seem smart and all but I wouldn’t put in in front of a crowd of anyone. Microsoft fanboys seem to like you, but from the outside looking in, you seem a bit crazy, and not really in touch with technology that doesn’t come from Redmond.

Jeff Bezos – CEO of Amazon. I’d buy that for a dollar. I’ve never met Jeff, but from everything I’ve read about him, he’s down to earth, cool, and generally a fun guy, with a good head for business.

Ed Felton – Comp Sci professor from Princeton. I don’t know a single thing about him, but A Princeton Prof, can’t be too bad a choice.

Lawrence Lessig – I’d buy that for a buck too. I read his blog (when it’s not over my head) he seems to be spot on with technology, and politics, which seems to be sorely lacking in Washington, just look at most of our existing tech legislation, and oh god, the Patent and Copyright office.

Techrunch has a poll, so go take a look, and drop your opinion.

Tags: Obama, politics, Technology