“This is a meeting the President was interested in having,” said his spokesman.
The White House has confirmed a story that was echoing through the blogosphere all afternoon: President Obama did indeed meet with Apple (AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs in a San Francisco hotel Thursday.
The President was on his way from Seattle to two Bay Area fundraisers — one at the home of clean technology venture capitalist Steve Westly and another at the Palo Alto home of Google (GOOG) VP Marissa Mayer. Seats at the Mayer dinner were reportedly going for $30,000 each.
But the meeting with Jobs was a little different, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs:
“This is a meeting the president was interested in having,” Gibbs told reporters traveling with Obama. “He’s eager to talk to him about the economy, innovation and technology, education.”
Obama is known to use Apple products in the White House, and Jobs is a long-time supporter of Democratic causes and candidates. Jobs donated $50,000 to the DNC in 2000 and $26,700 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, citing Federal Election Commission records. Former Vice President Al Gore sits on Apple’s board of directors.
Not much is known about what was said at the meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes. “They discussed American competitiveness and education, especially reforms such as the President’s Race to the Top initiative,” Gibbs said in a statement afterwards.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
