A New Hope

The Chairman and CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, announced that he is going on the campaign trail for Barack Obama. This is a huge endorsement but I can't say that I didn't see it coming.

One of the first places that I recognized Barack Obama as a man of vision and leadership was when he was interviewed by Eric Schmidt at Google almost a year ago.



Back then I recognized that Obama could synthesize complex issues and present a nuanced response to questions. I and was impressed with his technology policy and I was impressed that he understood the transformative power of the internet as it could relate to open and transparent government and that he would appoint the countries first CTO. I was definitely leaning towards Hillary and McCain back then but Obama represented a candidate who had a vision of the future that I haven't seen since Al Gore. Like Gore, Obama had an appreciation and recognition for the innovation economy represented by Silicon Valley to solve many of the worlds pressing problems.



The other day I was listening Eric Schmidt speaking at the Commonwealth Club podcast on my way into work. In the midst of the financial crisis Eric was discussing that other crisis - climate - and used the Commonwealth club to launch the Google sponsored energy plan. This plan which sets a goal of significantly reducing fossil fuel use by 2030. You may ask what does energy policy have to do with Google? Lots and lots of data centers represent the infrastructure that Google needs to run their business. Data centers require a lot of electricity to run so the cost of electricity is an expense that they would love to have some control. I also believe that Google's has a higher sense of social responsibility than other Silicon Valley firms so they are trying to minimize their environmental impact.

The clean energy economy will be good for America in many ways. In fact, it represents the next "killer app" of economic opportunity. I can't remember where I read it (probably The Economist) but I remember reading that the market for energy is significantly larger than the IT market. This is probably why a lot of VCs in the Valley are interested in kick starting the clean energy economy as the new, new thing.

In recent weeks I recognized the synergy between Google and Obama's energy plans and then I learned that Eric has been advising Obama on energy and technology policy. I'm very hopeful that about the future and the promise of America when we have visionary leaders like Eric Schmidt and Barack Obama. Lets hope that the future is in their hands.