Obama Endorsement: What Kind of Future Do You Want?

I believe that how we vote in this election comes down to that one question above. Do we want to go backwards, as the Bush administration has taken us – to building more nuclear power plants, ignoring expert opinions, damaging the environment, rejecting science and stifling innovation – or do we want to move forward toward a new era heralding open, transparent government, an unprecedented level of citizen participation through technological development, enlightened innovation, and scientific advances beyond our wildest dreams?

What I describe above is not overblown rhetoric. Evidence abounds that we can make this kind of progress with a leader who guides, inspires, and embraces change. Kennedy took us to the moon. Clinton took us to high-tech prosperity. As president, Obama can take the United States to becoming a world leader and example in open democracy and green technology. He has the vision to outline a way for whitehouse.gov to become a launching point for policy and program ideas, incorporating online discourse into a true public debate and he has proven through running the most participatory and technologically astute campaign in history that he can make it happen.

What’s the alternative? John McCain – a self-proclaimed “computer illiterate” says he is “forcing himself” to use computers more, while Obama works on his Mac and his wife blogs. McCain talks the talk of transparency, but his proposed plans pale in level and scope to those laid out by Obama. We don’t need another fear mongering administration to tip toe around technology like they’re afraid of getting bitten. We need an administration run by people truly comfortable with technology, openly harnessing the power and opportunity it provides.

The path is clear. I endorse Barack Obama in large part because I believe he is not only the Internet candidate but will be the Technology President.

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Sarah Granger has worked in high-tech for 20 years. She writes a column about technology in the 2008 election for The Huffington Post, and she is a member of the U.S. Association for Computing Machinery Public Policy Committee.