Obama meets with tech leaders

WOODSIDE, Calif. — President Obama continued his outreach to business
leaders Thursday, meeting with some of the biggest names in technology
for dinner.

The president had dinner Thursday night at the
secluded home of Ann and John Doerr with famous names in technology like
Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg, Google head Eric Schmidt and Apple’s
Steve Jobs.

{mosads}While the dinner — about 25 miles South of San Francisco — was
closed press, the White House said after that the president and his
dinner companions discussed “ways to work together to invest in American
innovation and promote private sector job growth.”

“The president believes that American companies like these have been
leading by investing in the creativity and ingenuity of the American
people, creating cutting-edge new technologies and promoting new ways to
communicate,” press secretary Jay Carney said.

Carney said the president “specifically discussed his proposals to
invest in research and development and expand incentives for companies
to grow and hire, along with his goal of doubling exports over five
years to support millions of American jobs.”

Obama and the rest of the group also discussed “the importance of
new investments in education and the new White House initiative Startup
America, a partnership with the private sector aimed at supporting new
startups and small businesses.”

“The president expressed his desire to continue a dialogue with the
group to share new ideas so we can work as partners to promote growth
and create jobs in the United States,” Carney said.