McCain Is Computer Illiterate
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 7/1/08 @ 1:15 am - Filed Under 2008 National Elections
Good grief. You can’t even manage a McDonald’s without knowing how to use a computer let alone run the country. So he’s now admitted that he doesn’t know anything about economics or technology - of course those kind of go hand-in-hand in today’s age. Maybe we can just get him to stay in a Holiday Inn Express…
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25 Responses to “McCain Is Computer Illiterate”
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Who on Earth cares if McCain is computer literate? The President of the United States has a relatively large staff and he will obviously have members of his staff who use computers.
That is similar to saying that Obama is not qualified because he never served in the military.
McCain saying that he knows little about Economics is a much bigger issue; however, Obama has shown that he knows nothing about capitalist economics by the policies (Especially tax policy)that he has proposed…
I am not particularly impressed with either McCain or Obama to be honest with you…
Mike Sylvester
Mike,
I’m not suggesting he has to be a computer programmer but to efficiently run any organization these days you must have basic computer skills. I can think of very few jobs that a computer illiterate would be qualified for and none of them would be running a business or a country.
Not even close. A computer is a basic tool that is ubiquitous in our country and almost the world over. To understand the world, our economy and to be able to communicate efficiently one must know how to use a computer.
I also find it laughable that the candidate who married (for the 2nd time) into a $100 million fortune and doesn’t know how to use a computer is not the elitist, out-of-touch one…
Jeff,
I agree with Mike. The President does not need to know how to even turn on a computer. Give me a break, as if we want our President sitting in front of a computer screen.
The President does not need a computer to communicate and neither does a Senator.
“The President does not need a computer to communicate and neither does a Senator”
I disagree - As I write this post, I can’t imagine anyone being a President of a Fortune 500 company, let alone the President of the US of A, not being capable of operating a computer.
It’s 2008 - welcome to the dawn of a new millennium. You don’t have to be an expert in computer engineering to have a general, workable knowledge of sending and retrieving emails.
Heck, even my mother and father who are in their 60’s know the basic functions of operating a computer and navigating the internet. I find it difficult to fathom, why Senator McCain has failed to learn, in the very least, basic simple functions of using a computer.
Can you imagine being interviewed by one of the top corporations in the world and stating, “Sorry I do not know how to work a computer. I rely on my wife to do that for me” ?
All the President needs to know about computers is how to “Make the e-mail vanish”. I’d say McCain would be alot better off if he never touched one. That way he could always claim “I know nothing”!
I agree with Sam. I personally know several CEO’s and Presidents of successful companies that do not use computers. Their job, not unlike the presidents job is to administrate and delegate and that does not require a computer.
It certainly shows a lack of interest and all-around complacency towards continuing education and learning in general.
For the President of the United States to be so disinterested in the most significant invention of our time strikes me as scary…
I’m complacent and disinterested in greenhouse gases, global warming, carbon credits, government ran health care, liberals, using canvas bags at the grocery, recycling at home, getting rid of my SUV, solar power, wind power, polar ice caps melting, etc…
Am I scary too?
:)
I’m thinking that saying a candidate doesn’t know how to use a computer is the least important reason to consider when voting for the next President of the USA. But Sen. McCain, “Doesn’t know anything about technology?” Let’s try a hypothetical challenge… Jeff you climb into a fighter, and we put Sen. Mc Cain in front of a computer. Who will figure out first, how to make the thing work?
Penny,
I for one, don’t find you scary - just getting way off target. This is not a liberal or conservative “thing”.
This post is regarding John McCain’s lack of having any working knowledge of operating a computer. I believe the Senator referred to himself in the video posted, as computer “illiterate”.
If ANY Presidential candidate, republican, democrat, etc., admitted they were computer illiterate in this day and age, I believe it would raise eye brows, and rightfully so.
Senator McCain’s statement may not have much impact on older voters, but to the younger voters who rely on technology, specifically on a computer for a multitude of daily functions, it may paint him as being “out of touch” with reality and unwilling to embrace new or different ideas.
Paul,
I think it’s quite obvious which task is more relavent to the discussion. However, I stand by the statement that if you know nothing about computers then you can hardly know anything about technology.
What a bunch of pretentious dweebs. There are movers and shakers in this very city who are making money hand over fist and who couldn’t send an email if their life depended on it. We see a physician in another state for our daughter who is essentially the father of his profession. He dictates his emails to his nurse. Sam is right, its completely unnecessary. Plus, give McCain a break for being 402 years old. In 60 years, Pruitt will be bitching about all those young whipper-snappers and their hover cars.
First, I don’t care for McCain or Obama and my comments apply to any candidate.
Paul is right on. Computer literacy is at the bottom of the list for presidential qualifications. If everything else were identical between two candidates then I MIGHT choose the computer literate one. I could just as well choose the one with the sme hobbies as me.
The President has a speech writer, he doesn’t put together his own presentations, he doesn’t read government email or Google the address of the nearest Best Buy. He has assistants. Heck, there’s probably a titled role for White House email readers and searchers.
Presidential knowledge of technology is pretty low on my qualifications list. What’s he going to do, design a new iPOD? Come on. The President doesn’t typically propose technology laws. If a tech bill lands on his desk he has a CABINET of ADVISORS. I can’t think of a scenario where I would trade presidential computer literacy for something like economic, trade, foreign interaction, or environmental knowledge.
I can’t believe this was actually mentioned as an issue. You might as well say that his thumbnail on his right hand was cut at a different angle than his pinky toe nail on his left foot.
Wow, I really can’t believe I bothered responding to this.
Whether or not it is necessary for Mr. McCain to use a computer, it makes him seem old, and I hate to use the term, but “out of touch” to state he’s computer illiterate.
Jeff,
You are correct. Bad attempt of analogy on my part. Perhaps I don’t understand the topic. The title, ”McCain Is Computer Illiterate” leads me believe you don’t think that Sen. McClain has the computer skills needed to be President of the United States. My argument is that all the skills Sen. Mc Cain needs to operate a PC (MAC, no way!) like you and I do, he learned back when we were still infatuated with the Bowmar Brain. (Ok, so you are younger than me and don’t know calculators before TI.)
My not understanding your point, I’m going to change things. You said “You can’t even manage a McDonald’s without knowing how to use a computer let alone run the country.” But, you CAN manage the entire military without ever having served? From what I understand, every McDonald’s manager has attended what I think they call “Hamburger U!” My question: What does a person REALLY need to know to be President of the United States?
Andy,
I once heard a business leader say that the ultimate status symbol is NOT having a PDA. You are so wrong about the Fortune 500. I guaranty there are many prominent CEOs who rarely use a computer. The fact that you cant imagine it, does not make it fact.
Sam -
Please list the names of the “many prominent CEOs” of Fortune 500 companies who are not capable of operating a computer.
Paul,
I take your point. I guess what bothers me the most is that I can’t fathom a world leader who watches an invention completely redefine the world we live in and not taking the time to understand how it works and how he might use it for his benefit.
It strikes me as a little lazy and Bush-like which obviously scares me…
Sam,
Just because you type it into a blog comment doesn’t make it so either…
OK Andy, I will get right on that. Let me contact each one and ask. While I am doing that, could you please contact each one of them and confirm that they do indeed use a computer? Please tell me one reason, that John McCain as a Senator or as a President would need to use a computer? I can think of one, playing guitar hero with his great grandson. Other than that, he does not need to know how to turn it on.
Jeff is right on with this post.
It apparently doesn’t matter - to most of the posters - that the president of the United States has computer skills, yet we preach and preach to our students from kindergarten on up that they need computer skills to be successful in today’s world.
If we told our students, “Oh don’t worry, you won’t need these skills”, we would be considered dinosaurs of technology and parents and employers would attack us for not doing our jobs.
What a mixed message!
Or are we sending the message that only certain segments of society need the skills because they won’t be fortunate enough to have people to whom to delegate those tasks?
I don’t care who you are, in today’s world even leaders of countries need computer skills. Obtaining those skills, especially by those of us who never grew up in the computerized society, shows a willingness to learn and expand our knowledge base.
It shows that our brains are not dead and that we have the capacity to still learn even at an older age.
I would think McCain would want to send the message that he may be old in years but he is young in attitude and willing to learn new technologies.
Let me share with you a first hand story that has played out for me starting March 23rd.
This person I had to deal with told me in his office he knew hardly much about computers. His office runs on them but he only knows how to type some information into areas others have shown him. He knows how to look up some information with the one program. But that is his extend of REALLY UNDERSTANDING COMPUTERS. Those cap words where his.
Well this guy saved my life on March 23rd. Then again this past Wed. he did some additional work on me so that I have some time to live. Be it a few months or maybe a few years.
He is a heart doctor here in Fort Wayne and is considered one of the best in his field from what the staff told me at the local hostpital.
So for me, a person not knowing much about computers is a little strange as I have lived with them for over 30 years. But I would not pass final judgement on anyone’s abilities just because of what they know about a computer.
J.Q.
I am not passing judgment on anyone who doesn’t know computers, but let me explain a little more as to why I think it ids important to know how to work with computers - from the most powerful people in the world to those who are struggling.
I had a ribbon typewriter in undergrad from 1979 - 1984 and started with that in law school. The appellate brief I had to write in my first year was done on the ribbon typewriter, and now I look at it (I saved it) and can’t believe that is what I had.
In my second year of law school, I purchased an IBM daisy wheel - I think that is what it was called. At that time, they cost around $700. I used that for the rest of my time at Valpo.
We put in computers at the Valpo Law School my third year. I did not use the new computer labs at Valpo since they had been put in at close to the end of my third year, and, I have to admit, I was scared of them.
I went to work at John Whiteleather’s Law Office in Columbia City right out of law school, and he was really advanced for his time in the area of computers. That was 1987, and he was totally computerized - form files, record keeping, bookkeeping, the whole bit.
I was almost 40 at the time, and I knew I had to learn these new contraptions or I would be lost. So I did. I had an assistant who was only 19, but she had been around computers since they became a part of the new technology. I bet I asked her how to do things umpteen times before I would catch on. She was very patient with me.
I look at my journey in learning computers as an expansion of knowledge. I see it as being able to keep my mind active and not fall into a rut and just give up on technology.
Do I agree with the way computers have “dumbed” us down? No, and that is a post I have been planning to write.
So I am not judging someone who doesn’t know computers; I see learning computers as furthering my education, and I don’t intend to ever stop.
One of my favorite sayings is “Education is not a preparation for Life; Education is life itself.”
Education and knowledge to me are life. The education doesn’t have to be garnered in a formal setting; it can be teaching yourself about things. That is how I learned computers - I have never taken one class about computers.
So I guess when I hear about people who say they don’t know anything about computers or don’t want to know anything, I wonder why they don’t want to expand their knowledge or education.
Are they too busy; are they scared; are they tired; are they satisfied with the old ways? There may be many reasons, but I would hope that thinking one is too old or just can’t do it would not be reasons.
I agree with you in general. Heck my Dad started using a computer when he was well past 70 years old. Then again it was something he enjoyed learning about.
What I was saying is one should not pass any judgement on a person who knows a great deal about or hardly anything about computers. It is like people learning to cook. So love it and are great at it. For others it is just not their cup of tea.
Oh, John Whiteleather was one fine attorney. I met him a couple of times over some legal issues and he was top notch.
It is obvious that most of the World leaders are age behind the technology. This jeopardizes the self thinking and reasoning for some presidential decisions are self not organizational, it is my fear that the Us President is illiterate in so doing as he seems to have the equal qualities with the African traditional kings.
it seems that Mcain is not hemself in looking for presidency for he depends on hard copies which by age look to be tiresome work.
This is however not a gratee that he has a credit down Obama for he might be wise though behind technology, but US is big country.