Science

Obama Promotes "Made-in-America" on Facebook by Sharing Favorite Inventions, Creators

President Barack Obama is promoting copyright provisions in his Trans-Pacific Partnership deal.

Pool / Getty

President Barack Obama has shared his favorite music picks and March Madness bracket predictions in the past, but in his last year as our commander-in-chief, Obama is sifting through America’s long history of innovation to post his favorite U.S. inventions, games, and designers to Facebook. And he wants you to do the same.

In a post made on the president’s official Facebook page, he said he was inspired by American entrepreneurs during his trip to Hannover Messe global trade fair in Germany this week and decided it would be a good opportunity to share some of his favorite American creations. The post also winds up being a convenient way to promote the copyright protections of his Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, of course.

Scribbled on a “MADE-IN-AMERICA” questionnaire, Obama wrote that his favorite American invention is Thomas Edison’s electric light bulb (which was not the first light bulb ever, but it was the first to be used commercially). His favorite app is “Online Scrabble” (even though all the kids have played and moved on from Words With Friends years ago), and his favorite designer is Steve Jobs.

President Barack Obama shares his favorite American items. 

Facebook 

The president met the revolutionary Apple CEO at a 2011 dinner, in which Jobs pressed the president on increasing the number of engineering jobs in America. Apparently the encounter, and probably Jobs’ legacy in general, left an impression on Obama — one that carried through the entrepreneurial tone of his post:

Today, the work of our creative and innovative industries supports more than 27 million jobs here at home and account for more than 60 percent of the goods we export to other countries. That’s worth protecting from counterfeiters and thieves - and we are.
When someone in a foreign country sells ripped-off copies of an American artist’s music, a writer’s film, or even your favorite athlete’s jersey, we all lose. But strong intellectual property protections make sure no one can undercut our economy or take advantage of America’s great creators - which is why we put those protections in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement covering nearly 40 percent of the global economy.
With these protections in place, American innovators are free to create that unique brand of American culture that has shaped the heart and soul of this imaginative country for centuries.

Unlike Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, Obama had the sense to know Godfather Part III is the worst of the movie series, naming only parts one and two as his favorite American films. His favorite song by an American artist is “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye. And Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison is his favorite domestically produced book.

Anyone can make and share their own made-in-America picks list by downloading the White House’s blank form, printing it out, scribbling your favorites in, and then, we guess, scanning it and posting it to Facebook. So, yeah: Get ready to see a lot of these on your News Feed. Fun!

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