August 3rd, 2008
Fixing McCain's techno-ignorance
The New York Times’ Mark Leibovich takes note of the tittering twitters over John McCain’s recent admission that he’s not exactly tech-savvy. “Not only did John McCain not invent the Internet, he can barely use it,” he sniggers.
McCain’s argument, as Cynthia Brumfield summarizes, is that as former chair of the Senate Commerce committee, he understand technology policy issues very well, and isn’t that more important that being able to double-click on an icon?
Maybe. Leibovich quotes futurist Paul Saffo, always a friend to journalists in need of good quote, who says that it really does matter.
“We’re not asking for a president to answer his own e-mail,” said Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley futurist who teaches at Stanford. “We’re asking for a president who understands the context of what e-mail means.”
The “user experience,” Mr. Saffo said, brings with it an implicit understanding of how the country lives, and where it might be heading. As Mr. McCain would lack this, he would also be deficient in this broader appreciation for how technology affects lives.
Exactly. When McCain is amazed that his wife Cindy can use airline and movie theater websites, the effect is the same as when Bush 41 was astounded at supermarket scanners and the miracle of barcodes.
“She even does my boarding passes — people can do that now,” Mr. McCain marveled. “When we go to the movies, she gets the tickets ahead of time. It’s incredible.”
Brumfield says that the blogs are alive with consultant ideas on how to fix the image of the out-of-touch old man. (McCain, Leibovich says puts the “Old” back in “Grand Old Party.”) These range from having him wait in line for an iPhone to using a BlueTooth device (apparently he’s a whiz with his Motorola Razr). Her fave, though:
“For the love of G-d, don’t let him be photographed using the web as if it’s something to photograph him doing,” e-mailed a Republican consultant and blogger, Karol Sheinin. “It will just remind everyone of that time they taught their grandpa about e-mail.”
