Mass Law Blog

Mark Stephens, aka Robert X. Cringley Announces That He Would Love the Job of CTO of the USA Under Obama and oh, by the way, His Last Column will be on 12/15/08

by | Nov 16, 2008

Quoting from Cringley’s most recent column –

The U.S. CTO – at least this FIRST U.S. CTO – will be the buyer-of-cool-stuff-in-chief for the entire nation.

I would make a better buyer-in-chief than almost anyone else because of two important characteristics in my warped personality: 1) I would be immune to special interest groups so this wouldn’t turn into another National Information Infrastructure boondoggle, and; 2) yet as a true enthusiast I would buy with such reckless abandon that I’d easily fulfill the economic stimulus needs while spewing money widely enough to guarantee at least a few good technical investments for the nation. . . .

We need someone with just enough savvy to know good technology, enough independence to make the right decisions, and crazy enough to do it all 24/7 right out in public so that vaunted “transparency” we keep talking about yet never see can be proved to be more than just a modern myth.

I’m the man for that job.

AND I can use the work.

That’s because December 15th will mark my last column for PBS,

After 11 years and more than 600 columns I’ll be moving-on, perhaps into that big CTO job in Washington, but then maybe not. This is my decision, not that of PBS, which has been nothing but good to me these many years. . . .

Full column hereMore on Cringley here.