Technology policy is not center stage in this year’s presidential campaign. Both candidates — Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill. — are consumed with weightier subjects, namely the economy and Iraq. That’s not to say technology isn’t on the nominees' minds. Obama released his tech treatise almost a year ago, and the use of the Internet and text messaging has been foundational to his crusade. McCain, meanwhile, published his long-awaited tech views on Aug. 14 even as he admitted to eschewing e-mail and not knowing how to surf the World Wide Web (see related article, How Tech-Savvy Are the Candidates?]. Still, he’s leaning on his status as a member and former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees telecom and technology, to speak for him. Meanwhile, Obama, while viewed as more favorable toward CLECs and competition than his opponent, doesn’t have tech-focused public policy experience. He's counting on key advisers to strengthen his credibility.
Even so, communications executives and even some associations fear that McCain and Obama don't fully understand the importance of the battles looming on the technology horizon. The past four years have been consumed with megamergers, discontent with FCC leadership, warrantless wiretapping and budding fights over net neutrality. Those subjects are moving to the next level and how they play out will all depend on who takes the White House. The takeaway is this: If McCain wins, expect the status quo of the past eight years. If Obama wins, expect more government input.
McCain vs. Obama
When it comes to just about anything, McCain “is more of a wild card,” than Obama, said Craig Clausen, senior vice president and COO of New Paradigm Resources Group (NPRG), headquartered in Chicago. For instance, McCain might be open-minded and pro-competition toward one industry, “but have a completely different perspective when it comes to telecom.”
McCain's communications track record props up that view. He voted against the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He has supported à la carte cable programming and opposed the E-Rate program that funds Internet access for schools and libraries. In 2003 and 2004, McCain backed then-FCC Chairman Michael Powell's quest to reform media ownership rules to allow consolidation, an issue so divisive the White House had to step in. And even though McCain expressed concern over recent Bell mergers, he never voted against one. Yet, he has fought efforts to tax the Internet.
Overall, it’s fair to say, given McCain’s history, that a McCain White House would apply a light touch or “benign neglect,” said Roger Entner, senior vice president for the communications practice at survey and research firm Neilsen IAG.
Obama’s problem is that he has limited communications and telecom policy experience. That leaves him to rely “on the old guard,” Clausen said. The "old guard" roster boasts prominent names from the Bill Clinton era, but Obama still could face skepticism about his ability to oversee technology growth and innovation. “Even when [Obama] was here in Illinois he was not involved in telecom," Clausen said. Obama's treatment of communications would resemble "more of what you saw in the Clinton administration," he said.
