Barack Obama Speaks Out: "I <3 Nerds"

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama has been on a tour of Silicon Valley lately campaigning for his bid for the White House. In a nine page document released to the press yesterday, the Obama camp laid out the Senator's technology platform should he be voted into the Oval Office. Among several nerd and tech friendly ideas, Obama would create a new Cabinet position called Chief Technology Officer.

What exactly would this new CTO do? In general, the CTO would be responsible for implementing and maintaining Obama's tech plan. In particular, the CTO's most important role will be to sustain the open line of communication that Obama wants between the Government and the American public via the internet.

Senator Obama wants Cabinet meetings to be streamed live for public consumption in an attempt to promote a more transparent govenment. He will also allow public commenting on all bills for five days before they are signed into law. There was no mention of how to control the flame wars, but we can only assume that the CTO will take on the role of Moderator (Needz Blu responzes PLZZZ!).

A few of his other points that he would like us to know:

• Obama will promote government support to get broadband access to rural areas
• He will open the 700 MHz wireless spectrum for lease on a wholesale basis to prevent companies from purchasing it and then just sitting on it (Verizon, we're looking at you)
• He will promote Net Neutrality
• He will work to fix the H1-B Visa program
• He also wants to provide more government raw data for sites like Maplight.org and Sunlightfoundation.org.

I originally promised myself that I would not bring any political talk to Homotron, but I just can't resist the temptation. However, I will refrain from offering any opinion on specific candidates. That doesn't mean that you can't though! Sound off in the comments, what do you think about Obama's attempt to reach out to the geek L33T?

Exclusive: Barack Obama to name a “Chief Technology Officer” [VentureBeat]
[via: Gizmodo]