FC: Some defenses of Al Gore and his tech-savviness

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Art is a public relations guy for the U.S. Department of Commerce and may 
or may not be speaking (below) for the Clinton-Gore administration. You can 
read the politech message that has Art in a huff at:
  http://www.politechbot.com/p-01428.html

Also see a quip from George W. Bush on Saturday:
  http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001029/el/campaign_rdp_169.html
 "But if the man was so smart, how come all the Internet addresses begin with
 `W'? Not only one W, but three Ws."

Finally, Marc Rotenberg says below that he says Al Gore has "a better 
understanding of the Internet" and thus deserves to be president. But 
tech-savviness should not be an adequate measure of fitness for high 
office. If so, Marc would be voting for Libertarian Harry Browne, who not 
only is an ardent geek, but once told me he wrote his own word processor. 
:) See:
  http://www.netizen.com/netizen/96/28/campaign_dispatch3a.html

-Declan

**********

> Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2000 07:03:39 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Art Brodsky <artbrodsky () yahoo com>
> Subject: Re: FC: I created the "Al Gore created the Internet" story
> To: declan () well com, politech () politechbot com
>
> Declan,
>
> Taking credit for that story is nothing short of disgraceful.
> Not only have many politicians uttered much worse, but in
> boasting about your perpetuating the story you obscure much of
> the truth.  Gore never said he wrote the code for the Internet,
> but as Vint Cerf, and many others have said even as recently as
> this week, Gore was one of the first members of Congress even to
> think about the possibility of an information superhighway, as
> it was called then, much less to promote one.  His Congressional
> Future Caucus in the House and his promotion of the idea in the
> Senate of a girl in Carthage looking at materials in the Library
> of Congress were far ahead of his time.  Had you or your editor
> covered the beat then or been more aware of the history, you
> would have realized that, and both you and your editors wouldn't
> glory in writing drivel about how Gore didn't put the actual
> code to keyboard.  That was never the point of that early
> morning interview with CNN.
>
> rgds,
>
> Art Brodsky
> formerly Communications Daily
> currently National Telecommunications and Information
> Administration

************

> Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 12:38:59 -0400
> To: declan () well com, politech () politechbot com
> From: Marc Rotenberg <rotenberg () epic org>
> Subject: Re: FC: Gore, Bush, and the new economy, by Paul Krugman
>
>
> I intended to write earlier to add my voice to those who think that
> Gore is getting a bad deal in the Internet debate. My own
> experience: as a Senate staffmember in the 1980s: Gore's reputation
> as the leading supporter of computer networking was widely known. So
> much so that Republican lawmakers shied away from the issue for fear
> that the young Democratic hopeful (Gore ran in '88) would get
> further recognition. To Gore's credit, he often played down his
> involvement to enable passage of important legislation.
>
> But Krugman's article actually points to another reason to pick Gore
> over Bush (though this was not the author's intent). Not only did
> Gore recognize the value of the Internet before other lawmakers, he
> also moved public policy toward private sector leadership before
> others caught up to the debate. As a public interest advocate, I am
> not thrilled about some of the consequences, but it is unfair to Gore
> not to realize both his leadership on government funding when that was
> necessary and his ability to change course as the Internet evolved.
>
> Krugman's larger points about the problems with the New Economy are
> worth noting. But if he is right that there are serious challenges
> ahead, the Gore's ability to understand the need to change policy
> should weight heavily in his favor. (Another example: the change
> in encryption policy, which came about through revisions in
> agency rules and not legislation in Congress).
>
> We've had a lot of battles with the Administration on a lot of
> issues. But on the issue of which Presidential candidate has a
> better understanding of the Internet, it's not even a close call.
>
>
> Marc Rotenberg.

************




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