

I've just published an article about the vast differences between Obama and McCain on technology policy. It's for the Washington Monthly's special issue on the stakes in this election.

The summary: everyone knows that McCain doesn't use email. What they don't know is that he actually deserves a lot of the blame for the sorry state of broadband in this country. We've gone from 5th in the world in broadband penetration to 22nd, in no small part because of John McCain's policies as chair of the Senate Commerce Committee: his support for mergers in the telecom industry; his opposition to the pro-competition parts of the '96 Telecommunications Act; and his dogmatic pro free-market beliefs, even in a market which by its nature requires government management. Obama's views aren't perfect; but he's miles better.

Here's Obama's technology policy. Here's McCain's.

And here's a link to a page with some of the sources I cite in the story, as well as other good articles written about the topic.