McCain, Obama on Unleashing Innovation

Both presidential candidates, in their careers and in their campaigns, have made detailed arguments for how the nation should deal with technology rivals, sharpen its competitive edge and improve what experts call its "ecology of innovation." Yet their visions are strikingly different. They diverge mainly on the appropriate role for the federal government in education, in spending on research, and in building, maintaining and regulating the complex infrastructure on which innovation depends. The visions both face tough questions on their viability amid the nation's deepening financial crisis. Sen John McCain (R-AZ) seeks to encourage innovation by cutting corporate taxes and ending what he calls "burdensome regulations" that he says inhibit corporate investment. But Sen McCain has also repeatedly gone up against business if he sees a conflict with national security, for instance, in seeking to limit sensitive exports. In Sen Barack Obama's (D-IL) view, the United States must compete far more effectively against an array of international rivals who are growing more technically adept. Sen Obama looks to the federal government to finance science, math and engineering education and the kind of basic research that can produce valuable industrial spinoffs.