How do you do that, practically speaking?
We have to offer a better future than [just being] the anti-Obama party. If every conversation began with, ‘Here’s how we’d like to make life better,’ well, that is a very different message than, ‘Here is what Obama is doing wrong.’
You take issue with sequestration. Why?
It may be the worst possible way to [get the budget under control] except not doing it at all. They don’t seem capable of doing it intelligently – so doing it stupidly is maybe the most we can hope for.
How may it affect Obama’s second term?
Ultimately the president owns the economy; he owns the government. And it’s very, very hard to figure out how he’s going to get out from under that responsibility. I think it’s a very long process.
You’re focusing on emerging technologies. Why?
Imagine applying 3D printing to military and logistics systems. Take Sebastian Thrun’s Udacity with its 90-percent reduction in tuition. Take Google’s driverless car; apply it to reducing insurance costs. In place after place there’s an exciting, vibrant future.
How can the GOP repair itself?
You need inclusion, not outreach. Outreach is when five white guys have a meeting and call you. Inclusion is when you’re in the meeting. We have to drop the red vs. blue and think instead about 311 million Americans.