How Serious Is McCain’s Internet Ignorance?

With the speed at which the political climate can change, it seems relatively serious.  In McCain’s own words, he is “an illiterate who has to rely on his wife for any assistance he can get”.   Cindy and a staff of aides are certainly there to  check emails and conduct internet searches for him, but his inability to do these things himself can put him at a disadvantage. 

 

A group called Generations On Line works to educate senior citizens about current technology.  Tobey Dichter, the CEO of the company, has said that “There are too many people surrounding John McCain who are willing to print an email for him… But that cheats him of an opportunity to let his own mind take him to the next link.  If he doesn’t know what links are available, he will only get what he’s asking for, and nothing more”. 

 

McCain really needs to be able to research issues himself.  Take the recent Iran/Pakistan Border gaffe.  It was possibly just a misspeak, but a Presidential nominee primarily running on his military experience should not be confusing Iraq and Iran.  Those are two countries that each present different foreign relations challenges- BIG challenges.  Secretary of State Condolezza Rice and five other nations met with Iran in Ireland this weekend, and Iran is reportedly not cooperating in reaching an agreement on it’s nuclear arms program.

 

Things change quickly in politics, and we are in a time of war.  McCain should be able to review information himself, and as Tobey Dicther said, be able to “let his own mind take him to the next link”.  Until then, McCain can continue using this “updated” map of the Middle East:

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/07/the_iraqpakistan_border.php

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