Torvalds Endorses Obama, Not Himself

Nov 03, 2008

Now that Linus Torvalds has his own blog, the community can find out what he thinks when he's not lording over driver code. In his newest entry he endorses Barack Obama for President and, against the hopes of some of his followers, not himself.

Being a non-voting resident of the U.S., Torvalds admits in his blog to viewing the country from a different perspective, and in that perspective supports Obama and backs it up with a video of Obama's "Call to Renewal" speech from 2006. In Torvalds's view, McCain is not the opponent, but rather the Free Software Foundation (FSF). He criticizes the FSF for having "the whole black-and-white, 'good vs. evil' mindset" and that it defines itself based on the single issue of railing against proprietary software. "I don't like single-issue people," he says, and opines that a true passion for something shouldn't turn into a "passion against something else."

At the end of his blog he admits to being upset over, and having a hard time accepting, some of the craziness he sees "out there." For him, "Obama understands the U.S. better because he has seen something else, and has seen it from a wider background" and is capable of understanding and accepting
that "others have other motivations than you do, even when you don't share them." That's why Torvalds is endorsing Obama and not himself for President.

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