John McCain’s Computer Illiteracy

This is #78 of our continuing series “Around the Churl in 80 Days,” our continuing exploration of why John McCain cannot become President.

John Sidney McCain, III, age 71, is computer illiterate. A recent Salon article confirms the depths of McCain’s self-admitted ignorance.

When asked which he prefers, Mac or PC, McCain was forced to stammer that his wife Cindy takes care of all that for him:

An aide to McCain later clarified that McCain is “aware of” the internet.

And just last month, McCain confessed that he “never felt the particular need to e-mail.”

Meanwhile, McCain has been a member and two-time Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, dealing with important technology issues, since 1987.

Lest we wrongly attribute McCain’s illiteracy to his age, let’s remember that three-fourths of his demographic regularly “do the Google.” Thus the apt description of McCain as “basically, a technological troglodyte, and proud of it.”

McCain’s computer illiteracy raises many disturbing questions. Does he know how to read a spreadsheet? Does he know what can be done to a picture with PhotoShop? Does he have any appreciation of internet freedom or taxation issues? Does he understand the impact on businesses and individuals of “paperless records,” including ownership, privacy, and data mining issues? As discussed in the Salon article, how can McCain understand important technological infrastructure issues such as access to broadband?

More fundamentally, eight years into the twenty-first century, how could anyone be so intellectually uncurious or constrained as to remain completely, blissfully ignorant of this decidedly twentieth century technology?

I hear some argue that hands-on technology use should not necessarily disqualify for McCain from being President. He can always have someone “do it for him.” But that misses the point. Can you imagine America electing a candidate for President in 1908 who did not appreciate the importance of railroads or steamships for America and the world? Of course not.

John Sidney McCain III’s studied and proud ignorance of computers, and his lack of appreciation for why this might be a problem, disqualifies him to lead our nation in the technological age. Let’s just delete his candidacy before it’s too late.