Sizing up McCain's & Obama's Technology Plans

[Commentary] Sen John McCain's plan has good points: supporting research and development, increasing H1-B Visas, tax breaks for R&D, supporting national broadband buildout, increasing government transparency, reforming the patent system. Good points, in fact, that Sen Obama has included in his plan released last November. But there are contrasts, too, on Network Neutrality, Diversity of Media Ownership, Lowering Corporate Tax rates, and their General Worldview Towards Technology. Meinrath notes this nugget: "Offering simple common sense solutions to real problems is at the core of the McCain's innovation agenda." And writes, "[T]his McCain worldview that scares the hell out of me. Technology is complicated -- and the solutions we need are fairly complex -- they require an in depth understanding of the problem if you're going to formulate a solution. And McCain clearly doesn't understand some of the core problems."