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A Clinton administration was going to create a new "civilian advanced technology agency" modeled on the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), double federal spending on research, make the research and development tax credit permanent, nearly double the average car's fuel efficiency to about 45 miles per gallon and link U.S. cities with 300mph "bullet trains."
Not one of those campaign promises came true. Clinton and the gang from Arkansas soon had to face a bitter political reality: Making promises about technology is far easier than making them happen.
The White House's first major tech initiative after the 1993 inauguration turned out to be the
The American Civil Liberties Union once had such high hopes for the president-elect that its national staff
Not only was the ACLU's effort wasted, but Clinton ended up signing the
For the most part, Bush's spending plans aren't tech related. He'd like to spend billions on a slew of programs, including community college training, rural health care centers, Head Start, Pell Grants and AmeriCorps.
For its part, Kerry's campaign has published a
The Clinton parallels
One characteristic both politicians share with Clinton is that neither likely will be able to follow through on his promises to voters.
A President Kerry probably would be confronted by a Republican-dominated Congress, with pugnacious committee chairs eager to probe one alleged Kerrygate after another. That's what happened after the 1994 elections, effectively compelling Clinton to sign a series of items from the GOP's
If Bush wins, he'll face a Congress that's split almost down the middle between Republicans and Democrats. Senate rules make it easy for a minority party to block legislation and stymie plans for radical changes to tax laws, immigration rules or spending programs. That's why the Senate tends to be a dead-end street for legislation, such as the
An additional problem for the next president is the walloping size of the federal debt:
Add to that mix the hard feelings left over from an Election Day that could be dominated more by teams of lawyers than crowds of voters, and you've got a recipe for solidifying the next four years into a block of interparty gridlock.
It's true, of course, that the next president will enjoy powers like appointing judges, directing the military and controlling important agencies like Justice and Homeland Security. But anyone governing in an era of perpetual gridlock isn't likely to be able to do more than talk about bold new federal spending programs, tech-related or otherwise.
Just ask Bill Clinton.
Biography
Declan McCullagh is CNET News.com's chief political correspondent. He spent more than a decade in Washington, D.C., chronicling the busy intersection between technology and politics. Previously, he was the Washington bureau chief for Wired News, and a reporter for Time.com, Time magazine and HotWired. McCullagh has taught journalism at American University and been an adjunct professor at Case Western University.
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Bill Clinton,
George W. Bush,
John Kerry,
tax,
health care
Why CNET continues to use someone who has such a biased track record as their "chief political correspondent" I don't know. Look, Pat Buchanan has an opinion and it is valuable but nobody would hire him to write most of their campaign coverage. You freaking hack, 12 freaking years later and you're still hating Bill Clinton?
Is anybody at the throttle there at CNET? Or are the editors still chasing skirt there? You know who I speak of you sexual harasment hacks.
Hack, hack hack. 12 hack 13 Clinton-hack-esque hacker hacked fgt hack.
Hack.
Why CNET continues to use someone who has such a biased track record as their "chief political correspondent" I don't know. Look, Pat Buchanan has an opinion and it is valuable but nobody would hire him to write most of their campaign coverage. You freaking hack, 12 freaking years later and you're still hating Bill Clinton?
Is anybody at the throttle there at CNET? Or are the editors still chasing skirt there? You know who I speak of you sexual harasment hacks.
Hack, hack hack. 12 hack 13 Clinton-hack-esque hacker hacked fgt hack.
Hack.
Yours truly,
Mr. X
...vote Libertarian...
Yours truly,
Mr. X
...vote Libertarian...
The truth is, regardless of who you vote for (including Badnarik), we have a system of checks and balances. To be realistic no candidate should make promises as virtually none of them can be assured of being kept, but lay out what they would like to do. Granted they would skewered alive for taking such a truthful approach.
We vote for the candidates hoping that they will lean the country in the direction we want it to go but "lean" is the operative word. If a president states that they WILL do something you can be assured that will rub someone the wrong way and they will block, or attempt to block, it in the Senate. That's why it's politics. It is a delicate game, played by balancing words with benign definitions that can be interpreted how you want at a later date.
It may be the ugly face of the system but at the same time it is its beauty.
Kevin Marshbank
marshbank@gmail.com
The truth is, regardless of who you vote for (including Badnarik), we have a system of checks and balances. To be realistic no candidate should make promises as virtually none of them can be assured of being kept, but lay out what they would like to do. Granted they would skewered alive for taking such a truthful approach.
We vote for the candidates hoping that they will lean the country in the direction we want it to go but "lean" is the operative word. If a president states that they WILL do something you can be assured that will rub someone the wrong way and they will block, or attempt to block, it in the Senate. That's why it's politics. It is a delicate game, played by balancing words with benign definitions that can be interpreted how you want at a later date.
It may be the ugly face of the system but at the same time it is its beauty.
Kevin Marshbank
marshbank@gmail.com