The focus of Monday night's speeches here at the DNC was to help white undecided voters get to know Barack Obama. Tonight, Tuesday, was all about energy and the economy, how the current administration has failed in those areas, and how the Democrats would improve them in an Obama presidency.
Tonight we heard the first mentions of the quality and quantity of our broadband infrastructure, and some prime-time explanation of how the growth of that infrastructure relates to the health of our economy.
Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who sits on several high-profile tech and telecom committees in the Senate, broached the subject this way during his address:
"Unlike John McCain, for whom the Internet is a mystery, Barack Obama understands that rural communities can't be competitive until we have high-speed Internet access across the heartland," Leahy said.
The Democrats' position on broadband is to treat it more like critical infrastructure--like roads, bridges and the water supply. From the Party Platform: "We will implement a national broadband strategy, especially in rural areas, that enables every American household, school, library and hospital to connect to a world-class communications infrastructure."
It continues: "In an increasingly technology-rich, knowledge-based economy, connectivity is a key part of the solution to many of our most important challenges: job creation, economic growth, energy, health care and education."
The Democrats even propose to create a cabinet-level Chief Technology Officer position to help organize government efforts to develop and manage broadband infrastructure.
Later in the day, former Virginia Governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner related the speed and availability of our broadband to our ability to keep jobs at home, not outsourced overseas: "We delivered broadband to the most remote areas of our state; because, if you can send a job to Bangalore, India, you sure as heck can send one to Danville, Virginia and Flint, Michigan and Scranton, Pennsylvania and Peoria, Illinois," Warner said. "In a global economy, you shouldn't have to leave your home town to find a world-class job."
Broadband wasn't the only tech issue mentioned in the hall tonight. Ohio representative Dennis Kucinich complained that the current Republican administration used technology againstthe public: "This administration can tap our phones. They can't tap our creative spirit," Kucinich said. "They can track our every move . . . They skillfully played our post-9/11 fears and allowed the few to profit at the expense of the many."
Broadband aside, the night really belonged to Hillary. In her address, she didn't touch on tech issues directly, but stressed that it will take a Democrat--Obama--to put the economy back on track. Clinton's speech struck me (and most of the pundits) as masterfully delivered, and well-focused on Republican presumptive nominee John McCain's weak spots. Perhaps more than anything else, the speech was meant to help convince the many die-hard Hillary supporters to line up, at last, behind Obama.
