I.T.A.A. rates Obama, McCain on technological issues

Silicon Valley, Sep 7 (PTI) Despite being forthright on
technological issues, both the Democratic and Republican
Presidential nominees' in the U.S. have failed to articulate a
vision for technology-driven innovation, according to an
assessment by the Information Technology Association of
America (I.T.A.A.).

The country’s leading industry trade group for
information technology gave a perfect five stars to Democratic
candidate Senator Barack Obama for the innovative use of the
Internet and Web 2.0 in his campaign and bestowed top scores
to Republican candidate Sen John McCain for his free-trade
policies.

"America needs a pro-innovation president who supports
U.S. leadership in technology — a president who grasps that
technology is fundamental to every sector of the economy and
that if we lead there, we will lead elsewhere," I.T.A.A.
President and Chief Executive Officer Phil Bond said.


The assessment, based on information culled from the
candidates' voting records, speeches, published comments,
campaign websites and from the information conveyed during
internal I.T.A.A. forums with Presidential campaign
representatives, found both the candidates "incomplete" on
their overall focus on and vision for technology-driven
innovation.

The association evaluated the candidates on seven broad
areas of competitiveness, government procurement,
international trade, e-governance and health I.T.,
intellectual property protection, internet promotion and the
use of technology in election campaigns.

Both the candidates received three-and-a-half stars for
supporting greater U.S. technological competitiveness in the
world and for their advocacy of e-governance and health I.T.
related programmes. They also tied on support for intellectual
property protection and internet promotion.

The biggest differences came in two areas. Republican
McCain rated two stars compared to Obama's five in the use of
technology during campaign, including Web 2.0 and
dissemination of internet video messaging.

Similarly, on international trade, including promotion of
both bilateral and multilateral open trade, Obama gained
two-and-half stars, while McCain received five stars.