
The campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has given VentureBeat an exclusive look at his technology plan, which he plans to unveil officially tomorrow (Wednesday) before a visit to Googles headquarters.
The full plan can be seen below. It contains several new proposals, including the appointment of technology czar called a Chief Technology Officer.
The CTOs mandate would be quite different from the Cybersecurity czar appointed under the Bush Administration. Bushs czar helped defend against cyberattacks. Obamas CTO, by contrast, would ensure government officials holds open meetings, broadcast live webcasts of those meetings, and use blogging software, wikis and open comments to communicate policies with Americans, according to the plan.
The plan extends Obamas previous advocacy for more open decision making in government. Its likely to play well here in Silicon Valley, because much of it relies on technology. The announcement is significant, too, because Obama comes to California seeking to bolster his standings here, where he currently trails frontrunner Sen. Hilary Clinton in most opinion polls. Nationally, Obama has come to a moment of truth in his campaign, a testing of whether he can cross the racial divide. Here in the valley, though, hes right at home, where the local tech leaders and VCs have given him strong support (see our coverage here and here).
VentureBeat will be reaching to other campaigns over ensuing weeks, including those of Sen. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, to discuss their policies on tech.
A copy of Obamas new technology plans, which covers everything from providing new subsidies for internet broadband access, to increased permanent visas for immigrants, was given to VentureBeat Tuesday morning, and I was offered a chance to discuss it with several of Obamas campaign managers. Heres what I concluded: First, the plan represent the most comprehensive set of policies for open government Ive seen.
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