Barack Obama recently announced his economic team. The markets reacted well to the news that Tim Geithner would be the new Treasury Secretary but from the point of view of the technology world the more interesting appointment was Larry Summers as White House economic advisor.

The reason is that Summers’ chief of staff when he was Treasury Secretary in the Clinton administration was current Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. I’m willing to bet that ever since the election she has been dying to get back into the Washington game and this is the opportunity to do so. Summers will have known about this appointment for a while and will have been thinking about his staff. People usually like to assemble teams from others they have worked with before so the feeling is likely to be mutual. The question is whether Sandberg will jump.

As tech entrepreneurs we see Silicon Valley as the epicenter of the world. However to most people the real centre of the world is Washington DC. At this point in time with Obama about to take office and the Democrats in the ascendance on Capitol Hill that is doubly, trebly so, especially for a Democrat like Sandberg. No matter its central importance in Silicon Valley, Facebook will start to feel like a backwater to someone of Sandberg’s background.

The return of Chris Hughes

If Sandberg does leave it begs the question of who should become Facebook COO. It should be Chris Hughes. The Facebook co-founder left early to work on then Senator Obama’s nascent campaign. He revolutionised political campaigning by building a set of volunteering tools which contributed to the Obama campaign being the best organised in history.

Now with Obama elected that purpose is gone. Four years is a long time in Politics and a lifetime in technology, someone like Hughes will never be content to twiddle his thumbs for four years and I doubt the 2010 midterms will be able to match the energy and excitement of 2008. A beginning for Sandberg will be an ending for Hughes – timing and opportunity in perfect alignment.

There are two reasons Zuckerberg should bring back Hughes. First is that with the departure of Dustin Moskovitz there are none of the original founders left apart from Zuckerberg. Second the Chris Hughes that left Facebook in 2006 will not be the Chris Hughes who goes back in 2008. He spent 2 years at the epicenter of one of the best organisations, political or otherwise, and has been on an unbelievable learning curve. David Plouffe is one of the best managers in the world, judging by his achievements, and Hughes has spent the last 2 years alongside him. So if a slot does come up for Facebook COO there should be only one name on the shortlist.

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The first president I can remember is Ronald Reagan and although Barack Obama is a very different man it is Reagan that he brings to mind.

I was not an Obama supporter from the outset. I remember his speech at the 2004 convention and I was impressed with it. He was mentioned as a potential Presidential candidate in 2008 but when he declared I thought it was too soon. He had barely 2 years in the Senate before he started his campaign and in the early days I thought that he was getting an easy ride from the media so eager were they to see a viable black candidate.

What changed my mind was his reaction to the Rev Wright affair. Looking back it had the capacity to sink Obama but the way he dealt with it was impressive. He stayed calm and delivered a speech which sought to explain the root of Wright’s anger without giving succor to his extremism. Again when the financial crisis hit he responded with calm. Added to that he built an incredible organisation which fused technology and inspirational leadership to show what is possible when a leader appeals to people’s highest motives.

We are with America

What is most striking is the symbolism. America has elected a son of Africa to its highest office. It shows Africa is perfectly capable of producing able leaders and there is now no longer any excuse for the corruption and bad governance which plagues that continent. Somalia is of course my main concern and I am happy it is no longer possible for the small number of extremists who have plagued the country to point at America as the great enemy. Now when they look at that country they see a man whose father who was born not far from their borders and who does not look much different to them.

Americans should not underestimate the impact Obama’s election will have on the rest of the world. For those of us who have always considered America an amazing nation we now have the best example of why we think that. Too often when the world looks at America they see only the great power rather than the product of the thirteen colonies who took on the world’s greatest military power to win their independence. With Obama’s election America’s friends can now go out into the world with the most powerful argument in its favour. And the power of ideas is ultimately far greater than any weapon or army. From one person outside America I say, we are with you President Obama.

Photo by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

There’s mine. Not long to wait to see how I fared.