President Obama meets Apple's Steve Jobs

Faith Merino · October 22, 2010 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/12ee

The two met in a San Francisco hotel room Thursday afternoon

What would a meeting between Steve Jobs and President Barack Obama be like? It would probably be pretty boring, since neither one would be willing to divulge his secrets. But White House spokesman Robert Gibbs confirmed Thursday evening that the two ubermensches met in a San Francisco hotel room earlier that afternoon.

"They discussed American competitiveness and education, especially reforms such as the President's Race to the Top initiative," Gibbs said in a statement.

Jobs is well-known for his commitment to Democratic causes. In 2000, he donated $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee and in 2006, he donated $26,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2003, former Vice President Al Gore joined Apple’s board of directors.

Obama is currently on a four-day campaign tour through the western U.S. states to rally up support for Democratic candidates before the midterm elections on November 2 (when the Democratic party is expected to lose a number of congressional seats and state governorships).

Earlier on Thursday, Gibbs told reporters on a flight from Seattle to San Francisco that it was “a meeting the president was interested in having… He's eager to talk to him about the economy, innovation and technology, education." Gibbs later confirmed that the two talked about "American competitiveness and education, especially reforms such as the President's Race to the Top initiative.”

Obama, who is known to use Apple products in the White House, was in Washington earlier on Thursday to host a rally for Democratic Senator Patty Murray. The president came to the Bay Area to attend two fundraisers, one at the home of clean tech VC Steve Westly, and another at the Palo Alto home of Google executive Marissa Mayer, where seats for the fundraiser dinner went for $30,000 a plate.

Obama has also had a notably close relationship with Google, even inviting CEO Eric Schmidt to be a part of the president's economic recovery team.