If You Can’t Use a Computer, How Can You Be President?

I'm at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York and during the last session, Tracy Russo (formerly of the Edwards campaign, with me in the photo) got into it with Mark Soohoo of the McCain campaign. Tracy wondered how someone who doesn't use a computer can be president of the United States.

Mark said that someone doesn't have to know how to use a computer in order to understand them. Tracy said most emphatically that you do, and that someone who is going to be expected to lead the country through the social, political, economic and communication upheavals that are happening as a result of the changes in computer and online technology very much needs to be able to use one.

In the midst of the thundering applause for Tracy, you kind of just wanted to tell the poor guy to give it up, there's no winning this one but I guess that's his job.

Ana Marie Cox is now talking about how all her colleagues at Swampland were so completely thrown by their commenters when they started blogging. They were all running around saying "Joe Klein was subdued by the commenters." He was at first sort of defiant but then he started listening to them. Two thoughts: 1) happens to all of us, Joe, and 2) I guess that makes Jay Ackroyd and Attaturk online dragon slayers. [Continued...]