Uneasy

I just read the following in a blog that I thought was written by just some guy, but turns out to be Marc Andreessen. He's the guy who was behind Netscape, among other things. Normally, when you attach a famous name to a quote, its supposed to buttress your feeling that the quote is worthwhile. This time, realizing that Obama wasn't talking to just some guy, but just some well-known wealthy techie guy, it made me think less of him. He wasn't just conversing; he was selling. The full post is here; this is the part that got my attention.

We then asked, well, what about foreign policy -- should we be concerned that you just don't have much experience there?

He said, directly, two things.

First, he said, I'm on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where I serve with a number of Senators who are widely regarded as leading experts on foreign policy -- and I can tell you that I know as much about foreign policy at this point as most of them.

Being a fan of blunt answers, I liked that one.

But then he made what I think is the really good point.

He said -- and I'm going to paraphrase a little here: think about who I am -- my father was Kenyan; I have close relatives in a small rural village in Kenya to this day; and I spent several years of my childhood living in Jakarta, Indonesia. Think about what it's going to mean in many parts of the world -- parts of the world that we really care about -- when I show up as the President of the United States. I'll be fundamentally changing the world's perception of what the United States is all about.

Is it just me, or are those weak answers?

First - Hey, I'm as well-versed as those other guys, and you respect them, doncha?

Second - I've lived in lots of places; when I come back as President, they're going to change their opinion of what we're all about.

I don't like those answers.