No matter how hard John McCain tried to play the "cool" dude with energy to spare; and no matter how many times John McCain said he was "ready to lead," and no matter his insistence he had the experience to start from "day one," the impression he often gave was of a somewhat confused, older man, out of touch with the reality of the world in which he lived.In the February 2 issue of Time magazine, managing editor Rick Stengel takes note of the massive technological changes that have occurred in the past 47 years:
"In 1961, when TIME showed on the cover a photograph of John F. Kennedy taking the oath of office as the nation's 35th President, it was the first time we had put a presidential Inauguration on the magazine's cover. At the time, it was also the fastest cover close in the magazine's history.
"The photo was shot and processed in Washington in about three hours, then the art director took the transparencies on a plane to Chicago, where they were taken to TIME's central printing plant, where a color engraving was produced. Then those images were taken by air to printing plants in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington and Albany, NY. All in all, about 36 hours.
"Now it's almost instantaneous and done completely digitally."
When I read that, one difference between John McCain and Barack Obama became starkly obvious. John McCain did not know how to send an e-mail which gave many the impression he was technologically challenged. Barack Obama, as it turned out, is technologically savvy and hired people who were technological geniuses and put together a campaign that was fueled and driven in large part by the Internet.
John McCain always gave the impression he would be much more comfortable and "at home" if it was 1963 again.
And it may well be that is one more reason John McCain lost the election.
3 comments:
When McCain said that about not being able to send an email, I started giving him a hard time about it. A bunch of people seemed to think that this wasn't fair of me.
Our economy boomed in the 90s because of computers/internet/technology. Companies like Microsoft and Google have a big place in our economy and in our future.
I'm not saying that the internet gave us everything it promised, but we most certainly communicate differently now, and have access to much more information (though not always more accurate information), and the demand is only growing.
Not understanding these things, not seeing the world for the 21st century entity that it is, means you really aren't prepared to deal with the people who do.
Precisely, MB. And I think that people understood that about McCain. How can a man who wants to be president not have at least a minimal understanding of one of the most important and powerful forces in our world today?
Thanks for writing.
Jacob
talk about losing the "youth vote" --- a perfect example
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