This is disappointing. Marissa Mayer is probably already a lost cause, but for Sam Altman to co-host a Democratic fundraiser starring Obama shows that Y Combinator is firmly in the "establishment". How, in good conscience, can they support a president who has done nothing of substance about the NSA's abuses?

I can see this being cast as a pragmatic move--this is part of how you buy and sell influence, and YC is a big enough player now that if they can buy influence on behalf of their interests (i.e. the interests of the startups they fund) they derive a real benefit, but it's disappointing to see them participate in a corrupt system instead of trying to disrupt it.