Fascinating read in the Huffington Post this morning on a meeting between the late Apple chairman Steve Jobs and President Obama. Mr. Jobs, who was a vocal Obama supporter in 2008, reportedly told Mr. Obama that he would be a one-term president, in part because of his anti-business policies.  Jobs also harshly criticized America’s teachers unions. 

Writes HuffPost: 

“You’re headed for a one-term presidency,” [Mr. Jobs] told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where “regulations and unnecessary costs” make it difficult for them.

Jobs also criticized America’s education system, saying it was “crippled by union work rules,” noted Isaacson. “Until the teachers’ unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform.” Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.

Jobs is a giant among hip, left-leaning Americans for his chic  irreverence and independent spirit. But he was also one of the most successful corporate executives in U.S. history, in part because he knew how to bottle that irreverence. One wonders if some of his final thoughts will be adopted or discounted by contemporary historians. One has to sadly assume it will be the latter.