5 Things Barack Obama Said in His Weirdly Off-the-Record MIT Speech

reason.com ^ | Feb. 26, 2018 6:11 pm | Robby Soave|

[BenLurkin]

1) Obama thinks Google, Facebook, etc., are "a public good as well as a commercial enterprise," and should consider whether they are corroding our democracy.

Obama described social media platforms as a "hugely powerful potential force for good," but then immediately hedged.

"... I do think the large platforms—Google and Facebook being the most obvious, Twitter and others as well, are part of that ecosystem—have to have a conversation about their business model that recognizes they are a public good as well as a commercial enterprise...."

"Essentially we now have entirely different realities that are being created with not just different opinions, but now different facts," he said. "And this isn't just by the way Russian inspired bots and fake news. This is Fox News vs. The New York Times editorial page....."

Obama noted that in other countries—like China—the government simply decides which viewpoints can be aired in public....government has a role to play in ensuring there are "basic rules of the road in place that create level playing fields."

2) It's okay to argue about how we should address climate change. It's not okay to deny the underlying science.

...

4) Diversity isn't about "charity or political correctness, it's just common sense."

"We didn't have a scandal that embarrassed us," he said.

5) Obama thinks the stereotype about lazy government employees is wrong.

The idea that people in the private sector work harder than the feds is a misperception, said Obama.

"At least at the top levels of the federal government, ... Our folks were putting in 80-hour work weeks and barely getting vacations and under unimaginable pressure."

[Fireone]

“We didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us,” he said.

That’s the only true statement he made all day! When you have no moral compass, you know no shame.
They had plenty to be embarrassed about, but are too dense,(read EVIL) to realize it.

[Svartalfiar]

"At least at the top levels of the federal government, ... Our folks were putting in 80-hour work weeks and barely getting vacations and under unimaginable pressure."

Just because you're clocking in for 80hrs a week, doesn't mean you're doing that much in actual work!