Searching for a McCain Tech Policy Supporter
A couple weeks ago Wired ran an Obama vs. McCain Tech Scorecard. McCain earned a D; Obama a B. [See comment below, thank you BBQ for correcting my error.] Nicholas Thompson then contacted the two campaigns and asked for representatives to debate over tech issues. Obama offered up former FCC chair Reed Hunt.
Here’s Thompson’s tale of the McCain campaign response:
My first choice was Carly Fiorina. She’s a smart McCain supporter and she’s very articulate on these issues. I was told she’d be happy to participate and her people were extremely accommodating and helpful. But she is controversial and the McCain people vetoed her — claiming that they wanted someone with policy expertise, not just general wisdom about technology.
Ok. How about Michael Powell, a McCain advocate and another former FCC chair? It turns out, however, that his people say he’ll be traveling continuously until after the election. Hmm. Maybe true. Or maybe he was worried about stories about a familial split, given that his father, Colin, was about to endorse Obama. How about Meg Whitman? Nope. She can’t do it. John Chambers? Nope. He can’t either.
Finally, after some begging, approval appeared to come in for Ms. Fiorina to participate. It looked like the debate would happen: 12:30pm, on Thursday October 30th: Fiorina v. Hundt. But then: kaboom. Word comes again this morning that the McCain camp must, must have someone with policy expertise. And, since there’s no one else, the debate’s off.
Thompson notes that the pick of Palin suggests that policy expertise really isn’t the campaign’s top priority. What’s equally striking is that the campaign so consistently avoids speaking to policy issues.
4 Responses to “Searching for a McCain Tech Policy Supporter”
That scorecard isn't the total scores that just one of the five issues (Broadband).
Broadband
McCain: D
Obama: B
H1B Visas
McCain: B+
Obama: C
Green Tech
McCain: B
Obama: A
Net Neutrality
McCain: D
Obama: A
Spectrum
McCain: B
Obama: B
They never give a total score but if you average those out it's.
McCain: C
Obama: B
It's silly to even conceive of a “tech” official in the federal government, much less at a Cabinet level (siller, in fact, than any Department of the Environment, headed no doubt by Gore).
What's next, feel-good government spending on alternative energy in the name of tech, politically favored alternatives, that is, and “evolution” into blatant high-tech industial policy (Mussolini in the 2000s rather than the 1930s)? My God….
I don't agree that it's silly – it's an infrastructure issue as well as just a “tech” issue. And, considering that more than a couple Lake Erie-area economies are trying to reposition themselves as Green Tech or Tourism hotspots, the focus on tech issues in the next government will help determine sources of funding and interest.
Thanks to BBQ for the expanded scorecard – didn't even think about the H1B visa issue, and interested to see what the candidates' positions are.
Determining sources of funding and interest by the federal government _is_ industrial policy, of which Mussolini would have approved wholeheartedly.
It's bad enough that the feds are now seeking equity in banks, and what next, the Detroit automakers and other key or favored concerns? Even Ralph Nader could not have actually hoped to “progress” [sic] that far.
Arrgh.