The Techie in Chief

The point is less the specific value that using the internet mght hold for McCain personally or as president (in response to critics of Quindlen's analysis), and more to do with a President who is simply out ot touch and to intellectually lazy to keep up with the amazing technilogical resources that are available to people today. At the very least it leaves him out of the loop in regard to what is the central medium in most person's lives today.

So exactly how different is this from the widespread complaints that Obama is "elitist" and therefore Out of It? As an internet addict, I must say it's a colossal time-suck, and the President's laptop or desktop computer should probably have the internet disabled in order to keep him from surfing when he should be working.

I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat and Obama supporter, BTW.

McCain thinks a laptop is a blonde 20 or 30 years younger than him. Hey, he's only as old as the women he feels!

Another article written by a liberal hack to point out (not in a very clever way) that McCain is old. I want my president to have good judgment and experience. I don't care if they know how to use a computer. Obama knows how to use a computer and the American people overwhelmingly don't think he is qualified to be commander in chief. You can google the polls.

Dear Cazador1972,
Does Ms. Quindlen's article address what Mr. McCain's interests are (and thus his priorities by your measure)? Presumably he will have some time on his hands to, perhaps, read history or literature instead of some on-line blogs...Oh, and btw, can you stop taking potshots at Mr. Bush, he's not running this year!




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McWar should have enough money to hire someone to read to him all the blogs and op-eds before bed time. I am sure he could find a cute 30 some thing to keep him up to date so he is well informed.

Think being OOI on tech issues isn't a big deal? If our president and lawmakers weren't OOI, they might have realized that the FISA update is IRRELEVANT. Any reasonably smart terrorist with a laptop can communicate and be absolutely CERTAIN of privacy.

I have to say that as a Democrat who will NOT be voting for McCain this November, I don't understand the big deal about McCain not using email Email is often misused, overused, and can be a source of information leaks or regretable comments (as most people know from their office experience). And text messaging truly is for fools; it is no faster than a phone call and it lacks the tone and context of a voice call that can make it more informative. Furthermore, the advantages of Licoln's telegraph are not an appropriate analogy here, because the alternative to a telegraph was a hoseback courrier at a much slower speed (by hours or days). Email and text messaging, however, offer exactly zero advantage in speed over a phone call. This is one issue on which the media is barking up the wrong tree.

Maybe Mr. McCain is lacking tech skills, and demonstrates a lack of curiosity and understanding similar to the current President. Does that mean he will be unable to handle the complexities and pressures of the job? You bet it does. The man who knows too little has proven that another man without a clue will make the same disasterous moves. Mr. McCain is not too old to be President; he is just as smart now as he ever was. That is a scary thought for all except the loyal Republican base who have decided that Mr. McCain is a worthy successor.