c:\John McCain\is\confused
A quick history lesson: The first electronic computer, ENIAC, was built in 1946 when John McCain was ten years old. The first mainframes came in the 1950s when McCain was in his twenties and by the 1970s, when the first microcomputers came on the market, he was attending the National War College. In 1981 IBM released the first PC and John McCain was getting ready to run for Congress. In 2000, the first time John McCain ran for president, we’d already seen the rise of Microsoft, eBay, Amazon, Napster and the tech boom.
It’s now 2008, John McCain is running for president again, and he freely admits that he does not know how to use computers. While he may occasionally do “a Google” it’s his wife who apparently has to actually do the clicking and typing for him.
Perhaps I’m being ageist, or simply ignoring as a computer capable person myself how many people still struggle with computers. But in the 21st century, isn’t it perhaps important for the leader of the free world to know how to use a computer?
June 12th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I think you miss the point…The President of the United States has many qualified individuals who can operate computers.
June 12th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I think you miss the point…I don’t expect the President of the United States to spend his day surfing the web and checking his Facebook profile but I DO expect him to understand HOW to use a computer. They are sort of important to our economy, military, health system, and the general functioning of the modern world.
June 12th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Josh,
I don’t think you’re being ageist - you’re just identifying yet another way that Mr. McCain is out of touch with the country that he wants to run. My dad is 65 years old, and has a website, a Blackberry, and uses gmail on a regular basis…if pops can do it, a Presidential nominee should be able to figure it out. Or at least be smart enough not to admit that he doesn’t know how to do “a Google.”
June 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
another reason this is important is because it speaks to the generational divide between the two parties, and these two candidates. John McCain SCREAMS old, not just in age, but in ideas, in longevity and in appearance.
In this, our 21st century America, a presidential nominee SHOULD know how to use a computer. John McCain is a has-been, old-timer who needs to pass the torch of leadership to the new generation of leaders. You, me, Josh, Amanda, Barack Obama, etc.