(Second of Three Parts)
Behind the Proposed Policies
- The Republican's Story
The Republican bet is not indifferent to telecommunications issues.
In 1987, or on his fifth year as Arizona’s representative to the Senate, former navy officer McCain became a member of the very powerful Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Technology. In 1996, he voted against the passage of the Telecommunications Law on the ground that it was too regulatory, being the only Republican to take the stand of lobbying for fewer restrictions on local and long-distance telecommunications. The following year, he was dubbed by Time Magazine as one of the “25 Most Influential People of America”[1] and in the same year, he started chairing the same influential Senate Committee until 2001 and from 2003 until 2005. His Chairmanship witnessed technological and telecommunication breakthroughs, from the abandonment of the heavy reliance on the old telephone lines to the rise of the internet and online businesses. During his term, he also discouraged cable providers from forcing the public to buy bundled products with stations they may not want. His political career would also reveal that this Committee introduced him to several powerful telecommunications lobbyists and executives, who would later become his campaign advisers.[2]
But despite his hands-on involvement in the field of telecommunications, critics opine that such experience does not manifest in his current presidential platform. Further, many find McCain's Technology Agenda a long-overdue response to Obama’s Comprehensive Technological Plan, which came out eight months before McCain released his version. The fact that Michael Powell, the former Federal Communications Commission Chair, drafted McCain’s Technology Agenda, did not help abate the criticisms on its belated release and alleged lackadaisical content.
- The Democrat's Version
Just as the popularity of Senator McCain’s political career reached its peak, the Democrat candidate entered the Illinois Senate. In 2004, the thirty-seven year-old former Harvard Law Review editor became the fifth African American Senator and the third most popularly elected. Unlike McCain though, Obama has a relatively shorter experience in telecommunications legislation but is often heard and seen promoting the development of broadband through the retooling of the Universal Service Fund.
In recent memory, he incurred the ire of a number of Americans due to the reversal of his initial stance against the immunity of telecommunications companies under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Under the said law, telecommunications companies caught spying on Americans, in violation of the Constitution, are afforded retroactive immunity under the American courts. The Senator later released a statement explaining this turnaround, citing the importance of the ability of the government to track those who want to attack the United States.[3]
But if there was any political candidate in American history that made full use of the benefits of modern telecommunications, it’s definitely Obama.
The launch of the barackobama.com website resulted in the creation of 280,000 accounts, 6,500 grassroots volunteer groups, 13,000 off-line events, 15,000 policy suggestions, and 370,000 online donations, all in support of the Democrat’s 2008 Presidential Campaign. The same website could not be more emphatic. “The campaign's technology activities demonstrate the important and positive role technology would play in an Obama administration, opening up the closed practices of governance to greater citizen engagement and participation and re-connecting Americans with their democracy in new ways.”[4]
The utilization of the world wide web for his Presidential Campaign is definitely a priority. As of the first week of September, Obama is reported to have already spent five million dollars on online campaigns.[5] He was also reported to reap the benefits of online social networking. Twitter.com notes that account user Obama has more than 79,000 friends and over 76,000 followers.[6]
(To be continued)
(for the week 07 to 13 September 2008)
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[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_mccain
[2] Kroepsch, Adrianne. McCain to Lay Out Market-Oriented Technology Policy (http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002912191.html)
[3] http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rospars/gGxsZF
[4] www.barackobama.com/issues/technology/
[5] Kaye, Kate. “Google Grabs Most of Obama's $5 Million in Online Ad Spending” (http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630760)
[6] http://twitter.com/BarackObama
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