Why McCain's Internet Ignorance Matters

Washingtonian:

There's been a lot of conversation in the presidential race so far about the impact of the Internet. From online videos and online fund-raising to social networking sites and blogs, this race is being shaped at every level by what takes place online. Much of this attention, rightly so, has gone to Barack Obama, whose campaign more than any other in history has been funded and powered by online organization. But the subject of the Internet may have just as big an impact on John McCain's campaign.

...

Last fall in the Republican YouTube debate, Senator McCain cited "information technology" as an area where he would likely need assistance from a vice president. It's a stunning admission and one we probably wouldn't tolerate in any other policy issue. Even given the nearly nine months since the debate, McCain still has no technology plan. Whereas Senator McCain devotes prominent real estate on his Web site to issues like "the sanctity of life," the Second Amendment, and "judicial philosophy," he has no entry on technology. Barack Obama, meanwhile, prominently features a plan to provide "technology and innovation for new agenda," an issue he addressed not only in his announcement speech in February 2007 but also in a far-reaching speech at Google headquarters in California late last year.

...

It's not so much that John McCain needs to personally blog or Twitter as president. In fact, I don't want the next president blogging or sending text messages from the Oval Office ... Instead, McCain's ignorance of the operations of the Internet today, I believe, says more about the candidate's intellectual curiosity than it does about his technical prowess.

Read the whole story: Washingtonian

Comments

[Freakpower]

01:57 AM on 07/30/2008

He knows how to build a wall out of stone, and rubbing two sticks together makes "fire."

[SoAppropos]

11:55 PM on 07/29/2008

I can't believe that more isn't being made of this. It hits me from an odd perspective, living with my 94 year old grandfather who has no clue about the way the modern world operates. He also has "never felt the particular need to email." Truly, it baffles me to think of anyone being president who doesn't grasp the concept of the internet enough to use it or who lacks the intellectual curiosity to learn about it. Is he going to rely on advisors to tell him everything he doesn't already feel a particular need to understand? Sounds like more of the same. Bush has relied on advisors to tell him everything he needed to know and look where that got us.

[CintiBlue]

09:00 PM on 07/29/2008

Thanks for the comments on his lack of intellectual curiosity.

I can't imagine not having the need or interest to see what this thing called the Internet is.

I often think about how much my Dad would have loved the Net.

I heard that the pages from the earliest Bible that have been put up got 5 million hits in the first 24 hours. Even being used to the tubes, that really caught my attention. What power at our fingertips.

[JiminNC]

08:51 PM on 07/29/2008

His abacus is still working and he has a slide rule to back it up. Besides, we know who does the counting in that family, don't we Senator McPrenup?

[ComnCents]

06:58 PM on 07/29/2008

His computer is broken.
Someone told him he need to BOOT it.
You can figure out the rest of the story.

[midtown]

06:52 PM on 07/29/2008

Completely unacceptable. Would be the same as electing a president in the late 1940s who was unaware of cars and highways, or who didn't know what a telegraph was.

This isn't cute. This is unacceptable.

How is he going to rule on rural life issues? Or global business innovations? His wife is no Einstein. She can't be his translator. The technology in question is effing 20 years old. Where the hell has he been?

OH PLEASE, OH PLEASE, college students . . . get out en masse. You are our only hope.

If McCain can't use a computer, he's too goddam old. Period. He has no curiosity. There is just no excuse for this. My father is 85 years old and runs around with his laptop, and his iPhone on the golf course, and MY FATHER THINKS that people his age who can afford a computer but refuse to use one should be put out to pasture with a pack of cards and Enfalac. And my Dad is now grossly involved with figuring out how he was lied to during WWII, and he's pissed. :-)

[billybunter]

06:50 PM on 07/29/2008

If you mention fibre to him ,he thinks its something to do with diet !

[thepoliticalcat]

05:38 PM on 07/29/2008

DavidMG is right. There are many people around McCain's age who take pride in their understanding of things in the technical field. A majority of blog readers are people over 40 years old, and most seniors use email. For him to admit that he doesn't know how to access the internet and the Web in this day and age is utterly scary.

[demfriend]

02:12 PM on 07/29/2008

I think when a person who is a senator doesn't even keep up witht ehcahnges in the world and how countries spilt cahnge their names and dictators how can you expect them to keep up with a piece of technology in their own office and house? I know of many olde than Mccain who saw the computer years ago as a tool to keep in touch with family and friends, to keep their minds sharp with learning and being able to get the news a almost the minute it happens. These are people who held basic low paying jobs the majority of their lives and had sometimes not even high school education levels but they were able to master many aspects of the computer. I send emails all of the time to congress men and women and would think Mccain has to have all handled by staff and if he won how would he communicate witht he multitude of peoplle who would need to have him respond to their emails? The lack of immagination and the excitement of learning the new technology shows why his number was so close to the bottom at the Naval academy doesn't it?

[RTIII]

01:46 PM on 07/29/2008

What we've learned along with the topic of his not being able to "use the internet" is that he can't - and doesn't - use a computer for _anything._

Think how this cripples a person. He'd be dependent on virtually everyone else to tell him about everything in the world without an ability to look for himself.

Take as just one example, the 800 page bill on the Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae bailouts: How many copies do you think are put into print? Try "it approaches zero." Bills - legislation - changes so fast, that it'd be stupid to try and keep track of amendments on paper. ...And he can't use the computer?!
.

[andyg]

03:21 PM on 07/29/2008

do you think Obama read it?

[thepoliticalcat]

05:35 PM on 07/29/2008

Imagine how much Google has changed the world, and consider that he has never been able to use it!

[LeawoodKansas]

01:26 PM on 07/29/2008

It scares me that someone like McOld would not even recognize the importance of technology. I know he is learning about the 'googles' but is any one helping him with the 'firewalls' ? Can we afford to have all of the information that the government has on all of us be in the hands of someone who proudly says he has never sent an email? Your income tax information? Your social security information? Your passport information? Someone needs to tell him that this information is not stored in hard copy form anymore.

Breaking news: It turns out the brown skin removed from his cheek was not a mole, but some unfortunate debris caused by having his head up his ....

[DavidMG]

01:01 PM on 07/29/2008

His age is relevant because he acts it. He is an old man out of touch. (this from a 66 year old with 3 computers a website and two blogs.)

[Moka11]

12:40 PM on 07/29/2008

The lack of curiosity reminds me of Bush. My mother is 77 years old and emails me weekly and text messages from her cell.

[JABean]

12:18 PM on 07/29/2008

The worse part is that he really doesn't want to learn. He likes that his wife does all this work for him.

[drzoon]

11:25 AM on 07/29/2008

and yes....

this also has to do with his age, and what someone called his "mental slowing".

he's old.

he's too old.

[kvet]

12:08 PM on 07/29/2008

Not only the Pony Express,,,,,,but Wagon Trains too.....lol

[wm1066]

02:28 PM on 07/29/2008

Maybe McCain could get the gig with "Twenty Mule Team Borax"!
It worked for Ronald Raygun.

[kvet]

12:09 PM on 07/29/2008

It wouldnt Surprise me that he still thinks the Pony Expresss is alive and well......