Obama’s State of the Union: Where Was the Tech?
January 25, 2012 by Kevin Michael Gray
'Imagine a country that leads the world in educating its people... an America that attracts a new generation of high tech manufacturing and high paying jobs... an economy built to last... where hard work pays off and responsibility rewards.' Today's featured article takes a look at the 2012 Presidential State of the Union address. President Obama spoke of the desire to create an America that attracts high tech manufacturing and high paying jobs. Mashable released an article this morning about the state of the union as it pertains to tech. We have attached the YouTube video of the entire speech and Mashables article below. Read on:
From what I’ve heard, President Barack Obama is a bit of a gadget nerd. He likes his iPad and his BlackBerry, and fought to keep using the RIM device as he entered the White House in 2009.
Yet, as I listened to his State of the Union-cum-2012 presidential election stump speech, I was struck by the near total lack of digital name-checks in the almost hour-long address. It was very nearly a luddite speech for luddites.
“Technology” has three references, “High-Tech” four. Never mentioned: Social Networking, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Apple. Cyber threats (same as Cyber-Espionage in my book) got one passing reference:
“I’ve already sent this Congress legislation that will secure our country from the growing danger of cyber threats.”
Broadband Internet got one mention as part of a segment on America’s crumbling infrastructure:
“…an incomplete high-speed broadband network that prevents a small-business owner in rural America from selling her products all over the world.”
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) one of the biggest online hot-button issues of the last six months got nothing, unless you count this portion on China:
“It’s not right when another country lets our movies, music, and software be pirated.”
Listening to Obama, I thought he would segue from this to the complicated issues of piracy (foreign and domestic) and content ownership, No such luck.
“Jobs,” by contrast, got 37 mentions and only one of them was about Apple’s legendary founder:
“…we should support everyone who’s willing to work and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.” It’s telling, though, that the President never mentioned the Cupertino company by name.
Obviously, the creation of American jobs is important to most Americans, and a tent-pole in the 2012 Obama Presidential Re-election Campaign. So I should not be surprised that it beat technology, digital and social by a country mile.
Still, it worries me that such a critical speech all but ignores how millions upon millions of us live our lives every day. Most of us are online 24/7, whether via our laptop and desktop or our tablet and smartphone. We do everything in the digital space and have real and valid concerns about how big companies and malefactors want to use our data.
“Data” by the way, did get a mention, but it was only, again, as it relates to jobs:
“Now you need to give more community colleges the resources they need to become community career centers, places that teach people skills that businesses are looking for right now, from data management to high-tech manufacturing.”
Obama seemed disinterested in the power and importance of social networks in everyday lives and how it’s changing the social, political and global landscape. This State of the Union was one of the most well-orchestrated social media events by an administration I have seen in years, yet not so much as a hat tip from our Tweeter in Chief.
If you were looking for “social” in the speech, you’ll only find it mentioned with “security,” as in “Social Security.”
