The election of Howard Dean as DNC chair reminds me of the day when Steve Jobs was asked back as the interim CEO of Apple Computer. And I take that as a hopeful sign.
I was working at Apple the day Steve came back, and I've been in and out of the company a few times in the years since. I've watched with interest as he literally reshaped the company into what it is today. I wanted to write a bit about the parallels that I've seen, and how I think Dean's chairmanship will be good for the Democratic Party.
Some of you are saying: "But Drew, Apple doesn't have a lot of marketshare. They are hovering in the single-digit percentages and the market is literally dominated by the other manufacturers. Is that really the model we want?"
You'd be almost right in that concern, but for one thing. Computers and politics are not the same. Computers are expensive physical objects, and there's a lot more inertia in the computer world.
There is one thing Apple did not have in 1997, and now has in spades. Something that is the lifeblood of any political party:
Influence.
More after the jump.
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