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Steve
Jobs told President Barack Obama he
was “headed for a one-term presidency,” citing
the U.S.’s competitive disadvantages with China
and a “crippled” education system, a new
biography of the former Apple CEO indicates.
“You’re headed
for a one-term presidency,” Jobs told Obama in a
meeting last year where he asserted that the
White House needed to be more friendly toward
business, according to the Huffington Post, which obtained a
copy of Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming book,
“Steve Jobs.”
Jobs also told
Obama that “regulations and unnecessary costs”
put the United States at a competitive
disadvantage with China, where companies can
build factories more cheaply.
The recently
deceased Jobs also told Obama that
the education system was “crippled by union work
rules,” according to Isaacson. Jobs proposed
principals be able to hire and fire teachers
based on merit, and to extend the length of both
the school day and academic year.
Jobs also
suggested that Obama meet with several other
CEOs who could talk about the needs of
innovative firms, but in a characteristic huff,
Jobs declared his intention to skip the event
when the White House added additional names to
the list.
Jobs also
objected to the menu of that meeting, telling a
venture capitalist that shrimp, cod and lentil
salad was “far too fancy” and objecting to a
chocolate truffle dessert. The White House
overruled him, according to the book, citing the
president’s fondness for cream pie.
According to the
Huffington Post copy of Isaacson’s book, Jobs
was reluctant to take a meeting with Obama
without a personal invitation from the
president. A five-day standoff ensued due to his
stubborn insistence on this point, despite his
wife’s exhortation that Obama “was really
psyched to meet with you.” They eventually met
at the Westin hotel at the San Francisco
airport.
Jobs talked with
Obama on the phone several times after that,
according to Isaacson, and later offered to help
with the creation of political ads for Obama’s
2012 campaign.
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