Let me first begin by saying that I have been a Republican since birth. I have voted in nearly every presidential election and have always voted Republican. I will probably do the same this November. In my quest for clarity on the issues, I spent some time looking at the “Big 3” candidates from each party to see which of them spent some time and effort to devote a section of their Web site to technology and the Internet. (Huckabee, McCain, Romney, Clinton, Obama and Edwards)
After all, the Internet is my life, my business and OUR future.
On each web site I went to the tab marked “issues.” Funny thing, with the exception of Mike Huckabee, almost all the candidate sites look the same. Very similar in look and feel. This begs me to ask who copied whom? All the sites were well optimized, well laid out and you can tell that each candidate employed some people with excellent web knowledge. Why then did so many of my GOP faithful not even mention the Internet on their sites. If they did, it was buried so deep I could not find it. So, who is the net important enough too that they mentioned it in prime space on their sites… and the winners are…
Of all the candidates, the only candidate with “Technology” on the main issues tab was Barack Obama. From there he digs deep into the issues of technology, media and the internet. From his site, “Protect the Openness of the Internet: A key reason the Internet has been such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet. Users must be free to access content, to use applications, and to attach personal devices.”
Oh my and Barack dares to even include technology in a speech, oh my aching heart….
From Barack Obama.com- Technology and Innovation for a New Generation
“Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy to compete in the digital age. Let's set high standards for our schools and give them the resources they need to succeed. Let's recruit a new army of teachers, and give them better pay and more support in exchange for more accountability. Let's make college more affordable, and let's invest in scientific research, and let's lay down broadband lines through the heart of inner cities and rural towns all across America.”
— Barack Obama Presidential Announcement Speech in Springfield, IL 02/10/07
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/
Broadband to my farm in South Carolina… John Edwards where are you? You are from here.
John Edwards had the second best thoughts on the Internet. However, you had to dig a bit past the first issues tab, but it was easy to find. From his site, “Building a Universal, Affordable Internet: The country that developed the internet is now 16th in the world in broadband penetration. While half of urban and suburban households have broadband, less than a third of rural homes do. John Edwards will set a national broadband policy to help make the Internet more affordable and accessible to all Americans, regardless of where they live or how much money they have.”
http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/open-media/
Considering that the Internet drives more than 35% of all retail commerce and that 85% of Americans have daily access to the Internet and that nearly 55% off all political campaign money is raised online, you would think that the net would play a bigger role in the “issues” of the candidates running for President of the United States.
Good thing for the GOP is this… I am not a one issue kind of guy. I want to keep more of what I make and be sure that I get back all the money I have put into the system. I want my kids to be safe and I want to die knowing that I made decisions to the best of my ability. If there is one thing the winner of this presidential race can do for me is set up a call with Steve Jobs and ask him to bring down the price of Mac’s. Or, at least open up the market to the Dell’s of the world. Steve, come on, you need more money? Man that would save me some money.
Long live the net.
The views of Ryan Dohrn are 100% personal in nature and do not represent the views of his employer, any other person, company or entity in any way. Any similarly is coincidental in nature. Please listen to Ryan’s audio version of this blog online at http://www.RyanDohrn.com
By Ryan R. Dohrn©2007
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