President must give CTO the necessary tools to succeed

[Commentary] The welcome selection of Google's Megan Smith as America's next chief technology officer is a big win for Silicon Valley and for women in technology -- if, and only if, President Barack Obama gives her the power and budget she needs to succeed in the job.

President Obama made a big show of creating the CTO position on his first day as president in 2009. He then rolled out a well-received, ambitious set of founding goals for Smith's predecessor, outgoing CTO Todd Park: 1) Protect the openness of the Internet. 2) Encourage diversity in media ownership. 3) Protect our children while preserving the First Amendment. 4) Safeguard our right to privacy. The CTO's office has to date largely failed on every one of those goals, although Park is hardly to blame.