This morning, after President-Elect Obama laid out the key parts of his economic recovery plan during his weekly address, he turned to the Internet and told the country that he intends to “renew our information superhighway.”
“It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the Internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world,” he said.
Last month, we highlighted Obama’s use of the Web; his ability to embrace technology and connect with his audience, and from what we’ve seen to date, he hasn’t disappointed.
Within 24 hours of winning the historic election, Obama’s transition team launched Change.gov so that the public could follow the setting up of the Obama administration. Ten days later, Obama announced he would bring the President’s weekly “fireside chat” into the 21st century by sharing it on YouTube; the very next day we saw the weekly Democratic address released on the Web for the first time.
Two weeks ago, we saw Change.gov announce support for OpenID, and more recently add a Creative Commons license.
Today’s pledge to connect American libraries, schools and hospitals to the Internet once again confirms Obama’s commitment to technology.
“Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools,” he said. He also wants to ensure every doctor and every hospital in the country is using cutting edge technology in an attempt to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help cut costs.
Clearly, the President-elect is not shying away from technology, and here at ReadWriteWeb we hope the examples he has set so far continue post Inauguration Day.
