Fri 13 Jun 2008
John McCain alerted us that he is computer illiterate. That is fine, there is no law stating one must know how to use a computer, my Grandmother can’t use a computer – she never really cared to learn.
Kos has some reflections from an Atrios post…
Technology now infects every corner of our lives, from cell phones to computers to the internet. It has given us access to the worlds’ libraries, empowering us with direct access to information. It has connected us with people all over this country and world, dramatically redefining what the word “community” means. It is dramatically reshaping entire sectors of our economy — from the nation’s thriving tech sector, to legacy sectors like publishing, music, motion picture, medicine, and retail. And how many workplaces remain without computers?
How can a candidate who admits he is stuck in the 20th century lead a country in the 21st, when he lacks even the most basic understanding of how this brave new century operates? He doesn’t know how people interact and communicate. He doesn’t know have the faintest idea of how they work. And this from the guy who once chaired the commerce committee!
Is it any wonder that McCain has been completely unable to adapt to the rigors of a 21st century campaign, in which YouTube and blogs can instantaneously expose every single one of his myriad flip flops and capture every one of his ghastly grins?
Technology touches every aspect of my life. My day job is running an ad agency – an interactive ad agency. It pays the bills and provides for my family. My work load (after drawing a tad of daily political insanity) is a whirl of Twitter, Second Life, email, BlackBerry iPhone, Google Maps, feeds, YouTube, Skype, IM – Hell, it seems everything I own has to boot and negotiate a network before I can use it.
I also run a charity, Books For Soldiers, that is 100% dependent on web communications. Soldiers hit the website, the order goes into the database and a volunteer with the book on their shelves sends it to the soldier. All of that, save for the actual shipping, takes place on the web.
Does anyone think the web will be less influential in the future? Will we be less networked (providing Bush doesn’t nuke the planet) and less communicative in the next four years? I doubt it (but I don’t doubt Bush’s itchy nuke finger).
I have two clients with Clicks and Mortar businesses (retail store with an eCommerce solution) who are considering closing their retail store and just staying with their eCommerce website. I think as gas prices continue to rise, we will see more of this in the future – let UPS bring it to the doorstep. Yes, shipping charges will increase, but who wants to drive all around town looking for something when gas reaches $5 a gallon? Some areas have already hit that mark.
So when McCain says he is computer illiterate, I see that as an immediate disqualifier for the office of President. If he doesn’t have a good grasp on economics, then his computer illiteracy will seal the doom of his Administration and, unfortunately, our nation will continue to suffer the idiocy of the Right. If you do not understand the web, you cannot possibly make any good decisions about fiscal policy.
Barack Obama is my age. We are the first generation that was raised on software. Our first exposure may have been in the form of a PONG machine or a Commodore 64 – maybe we rubbed elbows in the computer lab while slaving over an Apple ][. I remember when I started poking data into…. oh, never mind. The point is, we were the first to be raised on software. And it seems Obama has kept up with his use of technology. While on the road, he stays in touch with his family by using web chat. That makes me comfortable. So when Obama hears eBay was down for an hour, he will understand the multi-million dollar impact that has on small businesses.
This is not an age thing. There are plenty of senior citizens who are very web savvy. It is a competency thing. I wouldn’t want anyone as President that never used a phone either. Phones and the web are both vital for daily life in America and the rest of the world.
McCain is simply compromised, incompetent and will never understand the saying, “you will take my laptop when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.”
Rate This Strip
(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...
(5 votes, average: 5 out of 5) Loading ...Check out one of the previous TCD series!
June 13th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
You KNow Ihave said many times that I used to believe McCain was an ok type and would be a better than fair president. I have been well and truly disabused of that idea. He is of course the closest thing the Republicans had to a viable candidate this cycle but that was the other McCain the one who spoke against party dogma who scolded the religious right and who voiced opposition to tax cuts for those who don’t need them. What ever happened to that guy?
The primaries have exposed McCain to the sharp focused beam of attention that has withered many in the past. In his case this coincided with his taking on many of the position he previously opposed. It truth I think this is adding to his seeming confusion on some topics on the stump. I hesitate to suggest this is age related but keeping ideas refreshed in ones mind becomes tougher as one ages, fact of life, and keeping ideas refreshed that one is not instinctively aligned with is tougher at any age.
IN fact I find his various marriages of convenience done for political expediency and for no other reason than to win office a trait that alone makes him unfit for office.
That is almost certainly age related because this is indeed his last shot at the big chair making such compromises a necessity.
I do not think that Obama is in the realms of being a sure thing, short of being ‘caught with a dead girl or a live boy’, but he is a McCain temper tantrum on camera away from it.
There is no question in my mind that McCain has had a light ride from the press for a long time, but as that wears away his short comings become legion and public.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
The Wife has plus size retail and consignment stores. Of necessity, the ladies must come in and try things on. Even so, the Wife uses computers and the internet to optimize the businesses. It makes her life easier and the stores more profitable.
This is 2008. No viable candidate can be digitally illiterate. And yet McDoofus soldiers on.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:57 am
The issue is more important than the internet touching all parts of our lives, it is that the internet is still being created, brought into being. McCain would relate to internet as a foreign thing that companies (Telcos, software houses, content providers) want to “manage” (read: strip mine and control) rather than the foundation of a new form of shared public medium that is both essential and transformative for society, because it is neither to him.
This is a critical time for the Net, when it is decided what it will ultimately be.