I can’t wait for the election to be over. Like many people I am worn out by the whole thing. I understand, on the other hand, that many others are on the edge of their seats and in fact working the phones and the streets like crazy to get out the vote. I applaud that effort.
But according to most of the polls and many commentators, Obama has a strong lead and McCain only a slim chance of turning the tide. Still, the McCain team continues to declare that the race is tightening and McCain will win. But according to The Atlantic journalist James Fallows, McCiain’s appearance on Saturday Night Live is a clear admittance of defeat. That’s an interesting perspective. And watching the show after reading the blog post it really makes sense. McCain seemed relaxed and his old self again, as if he was finally able shake off his handlers and strategists, now that the campaign was really over. Too bad he wasn’t able to be that McCain from the beginning. This really would have been a nail biter of an election.
But even if the election is over, is the fight? I fear that with so much fear, anger, and outright paranoid fantasies out there, is there hope that whoever wins can bring the country together in any meaningful way? That struggle will continue.
My wife has been an Obama supporter from early on in the primaries. I stayed neutral during that period, but since each party has settled on their candidates the choice has become easy. The McCain campaign was shaky to begin with and now appears almost pathetic.
But if you still need convincing and you’re in to tech (and who isn’t these days?) there is a web site specifically to help along your convictions. Here is a video of tech endorsements from the site. Oh, and by the way, the site was built using Drupal, a system we use more and more.
Now that all the fun of guessing who will be the v.p. selections for each candidate is over, what do we have left? We have the philosophy and policy of the men at the top of the tickets for each party. We are not going to learn a whole lot from the Republican convention that we don’t already know, so I thought it was about time to address what we do know now of the tech policies of the two candidates. Barack Obama has had a policy statement on his web site since January, And while it’s not perfect, it stands in stark contrast to John McCain’s which was only released on August 14th. You may not think a candidate’s policy statements on technology is crucial in making a decision on whom to vote for. But as tech is central to our economy our freedom of speech and so much more, it is well worth a look at who has a clear vision for the future.
I don’t have the resources or experience to go in to a detailed analysis of the two policies. But I can refer you to Lawrence Lessig, law professor at Stanford and longstanding advocate for freedom and development of the Internet and telecommunications. He’s also famous for his slide shows. You might want to click the little full screen mode button to get the full effect of the graphics and charts.
