Now it's The Cables.

Watch the video at my longer blog entry. It's friggin' amazing. Honestly, his lack of understanding is stunning.

http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/should-the-potus-be-computer-literate/

Very interesting question. Probably, I don't expect POTUS to be adept in using the Internet. Plainly, he doesn't need to be.

However, he should be literate, in the sense, should understand how the Internet works and how it can shape of public and foriegn relations, policy, etc.

Look, knowing how to use a computer is not necessarily a requirement for the presidency. He's not applying to be a technician.

But having no exposure to computers? How does a person's mind work in that case? How does he organize and process information (for example...threat data, economic indicators, job performance of his cabinet agencies)? How does he conceptualize the moving parts of the government? Does he have the ability to be healthily skeptical of his more tech savvy lieutenants?

It's part of a pattern that, coupled with lack of actual CEO/Executive style experience, is troubling. Obama doesn't have this pedigree either, but his well oiled campaign organization has spoken for itself.

A John Q. Voter in an MSNBC article put it best:

"My husband and I are about the same age as McCain, and I don't think we'd be in a position to take this country in the direction it needs to go," said Rosemary Bates, 65, of Barre, Vt., an Obama supporter. "We've grown up in a different era. Something is not working and it needs to be changed."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25566749/

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Visit me at http://nakeddebt.org

Just wondering what you mean by the phrase "computer literate"?

What specific skills do you have in mind?

If the president of the United States was sitting in the oval office goggleing for information I'd be pissed at him for wasting time. There is expert staff on every conceivable issue that could get him better information then you can find on the internet. The president doesn't type, "israel palestine" into google to see what comes up and then thinks up other keywords to refine his search. He looks at his Sec. of State and/or head of the CIA and says, get me a briefing on Israel as it relates to the current crisis or the issues currently on the table. And the Sec. of State has someone on her staff write it. What ever functionary assigned the task of writing the briefing might be brought into a high level cabinet meeting to answer questions.

If I have a casual interest in a subject I'll see what's on the internet. If I have a serious interest I get a few books on the subject. The internet is approaching a tipping point where it might in several years be useful for serious research on most topics. Right now its 99% shit. In those, I must say with embarrassment, very few areas that I have done serious study I know more than I can find on the internet.

The president should know enough to keep the kids next door from hopping on his wireless router to download torrents of Iron Man and Hulk.

I think the president just HAS to be computer literate, period. Not as a technician, but as a user. Like he doesn't have to be a writer, but he has to know how to read and write. And he doesn't have to be an economist, but he has to know how much is a trillion dollars. Etc. So he doesn't have to be a hacker, but he has to know how to write a document and send an email. Because that's basic education and because it's how today's world works.

If nothing else, think about the wasted time if the president communicates messengers or via paper mail, which takes A DAY to arrive (or even more for international mail), instead of email. The president only has about 1425 days in the office, so he really shouldn't spend days waiting for a letter to get back and forth. Also, there are a lot of other software solutions, like process management and decision support systems, which can make the governing process a lot more efficient and transparent.

All businesses have switched to computers YEARS AGO (or went bankrupt). I don't know ANYONE in ANY kind of office, whether private or public sector, that doesn't use a computer at least for the most basic tasks. I'm from Slovenia though, but if the country that invented the Internet is behind our country (that's an ex socialist country, mind you!) in this regard, then you've really been thoroughly screw by the conservatives. THE WHOLE WORLD HAS ALREADY MOVED ON! The next thing you'll see are Chinese peasants flying around in flying saucers, while you still drive around in your pick-up trucks...

I'm sorry, I know you're all for progress 'n all, but it makes me MAD AS HELL to see the wasted potential of your country!!! (The wasted potential of my own country makes me a lot less mad, because there's not much potential in the first place, so the waste is negligible.)

McCain doesn't have to know about the internets because he is a war hero. Just joking.

Net neutrality will be on the table when the next POTUS takes office. Some knowledge of how people gain information is important.

The global threat of a foreign government shutting down the internet by attacking critical points in the system is a concept important for a POTUS to possess.

I think that a working knowledge of the internet is important.

Yes, and I bet McCain is, he's probably putting up a front to make himself appear like a regular guy.

McCain feels being computer savvy would make him look liberal to his conservative base.

I think a lot of this debate has hung up over the term "computer literate." To many that means being quite techinically adept and quickly using each and every innnovation as it comes along. I would not expect that of POTUS.

On the other hand I would consider it unthinkable that there is no computer terminal and keyboard in the Oval Office and/or a President unable to use it at some basic level, such as sending and receiving e-mails and searching the internet.

His lack of computer literacy, which I take to mean he makes no use whatsoever of computer technology, is a sign of the kind of people who as they get older have a resitance or inability to learn or acquire new information and skills. We see this in many aspect of McCain, such as his inability to use teleprompters; or his confusion over Shiite and Sunnis; Somalia or Sudan, etc. Together with his temperament, the idea of him being POTUS is indeed frightening.

Reading this post & a few of the comments, I actually feel... ashamed. I thought of trying to tackling them individually, but found myself a bit overwhelmed. As follows:

His computer illiteracy seemingly means he has "no knowledge of the things that shape American society," is "uncapable" of learning & adapting," proves he can't "relate to the modern worker," and shows that "he can't understand government."

And my personal favorite, "Having no exposure to computers? How does a person's mind work in that case? How does he organize and process information?" (Thank you, oceankat, for gently righting that. If not for you & a few of others - kash, ben, clearthinker - I was considering ending it all.)

In fact, I was gonna do a full post in response, but thought that would look cowardly, so what the fuck, eh? Let's dance here:

McCain may be all the things you (and I) say he is. Mean. Dangerous. Crooked. Flip-flopping. Insane and impossible to vote for. Ok? Let's get that upfront. But Christ on the Cross, if we're gonna kick the shit out of him & mock him, then let's not say things even fucking dumber than him, ok?

I know the internet & computers seem really really magic to some of you. They are to me, too. They're cool too. And yes, they're transforming the world. (I am actually agreeing here.)

Now. Does understanding them, being literate in them, or even being adept make you better qualified for becoming President? I vote YES. Knowing how to use an important thing is.... important. All other things being equal.

But you might want to re-read that last sentence. Because, life being what it is - big & bright, complex & contradictory, full of a whole LOT of natural wonders & human inventions & civilizations & things that didn't work out - there may be more than a few "other things" that ALSO make a person more qualified. Like:

Farming. You know, the ability to grow food. One of those innovations that's turned out to be pretty essential to human life thus far. Likely to get moreso. (Hell, I'll even count the ability to garden here, ok?) But someone who doesn't understand seasons, cycles, seeds, weeds, vulnerability, planning, interactions - well, I just think not having those skills, all other things being equal, makes you less.

Music. Humans have had this extraordinary skill, astonishing language, social bonding mechanism, for as long as .... well, as long as there've been humans. All human societies have it. Even in the womb, it seems. Should we be upset if a society's "leader" was tone deaf, didn't enjoy music & shared none of this language? I would be. But then again, what if they were DEAF? Can a person be a good leader if they can't hear? Can't see? How about if they're in a wheelchair? Things start to cloud again.

Love. How about if a leader had no skills, understanding or appreciation for love? Hmmmm. Pretty big strike, I'd say. Or respect. Or tolerance. Kinda useful, those things, eh? And sorry, they don't just come to any & all humans. Some people work at it, and get very good at this. How about you all? Thoughts?

There are many others. In fact, I'd like to see a nice lonnnng list right here, laying out all the "skills" and "understandings" and "literacies" that we might really value in a leader. These could include - Motherhood. Violence. Peace-making. Reading. Thoughtfulness. Judgment. A sense of History. Linguistic ability. Rhetoric. Ability to drive a car. Make, and take, a joke.

Because not being adept with a particular "technology," even a world-changing one like the one we get to play on here, may not be THE make/break criterion in a leader, you know? TV wasn't as big as the Internet, but would we demand a leader who was deeply involved in tv-watching? Electricity - now THAT was sure a big world-changing invention. Come on everyone, all together now, explain how that shit works. And the funny thing is, people often find ways to get around particular technological limitations. Staff, meetings, briefings, secretaries, those kinds of things pretty much eat up the day for a President, you know? YouTube is cool, and e-mail great fun & useful - for me - but people can survive, even thrive, without 'em.

I'll let an old guy from St Louis say it 100 times better than I:

"Where is the Life we have lost in living?
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"

So whaddya think? Was he saying anything important, or was he just wasting valuable time he could have spent Googling?

Because Honest to God, today I felt ashamed. So thank you again, oceankat. Intended or not, you retrieved my sanity. And yeah, this comment is long, so for those coming to the post later, I apologize. I can't sum things up as concisely as T.S. Eliot.

We're not talking Gandhi here. Ya' know, like, someone with a brain. So, yeah, I think it's important the POTUS understands what's POSSIBLE and what's not.

Anyone computer illiterate today? Has made an effort to avoid learning, is lazy, or hasn't had access.

So which applies to McCain?

It's an important issue. It's McCain's 'bubble'. It allows surrogates to control the largest source of information available to a POTUS.

Any more philiosophical drivel?

jw1

THE INTERNETS ARE SERIOUS BUSINESS!!!

Seriously, in today's age and the coming 8 years we need someone who isn't behind the times with current technology. If the POTUS is that far behind then he will only slow the rest of us down. Obama has many stances on internet topics not to even mention all the work he plans on doing to make government more transparent and communicative with the power of the internet.

No one so incurious that they haven't bothered to learn to use a computer should be president. That's not the reason McCain shouldn't be president, but it's an item in a long list.

I wonder if his wife lets him use the ATM . . .

A POTUS doesn't need to know how to use the Internet? OK.

As a practical matter, a president doesn't need to know how to drive a car, place a phone call or open a pocket knife either, but we have to wonder what kind of person gets to a position of power without mastering basic, every-day technology.

My question is "WHY does he not know how to use the Internet?" Incapable of mastering the skill set? Afraid of the knowledge? Not interested in what is connecting the world?

Not to get all grassy knoll on you, but there could be a thread of plausible deniability here.

Look at all the e-mail server "problems" the current administration has had -- how many important e-mails comprising directives and God knows what have been "lost." They were using the RNC e-mail servers to shield and hide their nefarious machinations.
Now imagine a McCain administration where his well established ignorance becomes a mask for any number of abuses. It's not too hard to see this as an advantage.

(Man, I hate thinking in these terms. See what the last eight years have done to me?)

Personal computers have been around for what 30 yrs now? The internet has been around for a good 20 yrs. The real issue here should be- why McCain who has held a position of power in the US for the last 26 years hasn’t bothered to learn to use a computer. It is not like the technology is brand new. Not knowing how to use an iphone acceptable, not knowing how to use a computer antiquated.

In regards to the secretary argument, I have worked closely with numerous CEO’s, most of them brilliant. Some were very good with technology; others relied on their secretaries to check email. The ones that were computer literate were always more aware of what was going on. They also responded quicker then their counterparts. One final note, the computer literate CEO’s also had secretaries; they just used them for more important jobs.

Okay, I'm an early adopter of various technologies and a computer professional, so I'm probably somewhat biased on this front.

We've had two terms of a president that's not intellectually curious and prefers to only get information from trusted sources. It started with the whole disdain for reality-based information and has resulted in a president growing increasingly more and more out of touch as his presidency wanes.

I don't think McCain could possibly be that bad. (Bush has set the bar fairly low.) But I do think that being unable or unwilling to look at available information and just shrugging and saying that he doesn't know anything about economics or computers is a worrying sign.

With the trials that are sure to go through the oval office for the next President, we need someone with every tool available to him.