Harper Reed, President Obama's Former CTO, Says Data Isn't Everything

A Q&A with Harper Reed, President Barack Obama's former Chief Technology Officer during President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign.

When asked, "Have the presidential candidates of 2016 been looking at the things you did in 2012?", Reed responded, "I am mostly afraid that we will accidentally elect a Nazi as president. You'll see that every campaign has embraced the importance of data. However, I'd like to debunk the idea that data is the most important aspect. [Donald] Trump said recently, 'Data is only data. I will enter the White House purely on character.' That was smart. Since 2012, media reports make you believe that data is the most important element in election campaigns, as though candidates could win because of their collection of data. The reason [President Barack] Obama won the election in 2012 is because he was the best candidate. It is about character; Trump is right about that. He is just the only one to say this out loud. That the media do not understand this simple fact is actually quite peculiar."