Much more at this link on Obama’s substance.<\/p>\n
Obsidian Wings: Obama: Actually, I Think We Can<\/a><\/p>\n I’ll say something about the peculiar idea that Barack Obama is all style and no substance. <\/p>\n I came to Obama by an unusual route: as I explained here<\/a>, “Obama has committed himself to a technology policy for Much more at this link on Obama’s substance. Obsidian Wings: Obama: Actually, I Think We Can I’ll say something about the peculiar idea that Barack Obama is all style and no substance. I came to Obama by an unusual route: as I explained here, I follow some issues pretty closely, and over and over again, … Continue reading Obama’s Substance<\/span>
\nI follow some issues pretty closely, and over and over again, Barack
\nObama kept popping up, doing really good substantive things. There he
\nwas, working for nuclear non-proliferation<\/a> and securing loose stockpiles of conventional weapons<\/a>, like shoulder-fired missiles. There he was again, passing what the Washington Post called<\/a>
\n“the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet” —
\nthough not as strong as Obama would have liked. Look — he’s over
\nthere, passing a bill that created a searchable database<\/a> of recipients of federal contracts and grants, proposing legislation<\/a> on avian flu<\/a> back when most people hadn’t even heard of it, working<\/a>
\nto make sure that soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan were
\nscreened for traumatic brain injury and to prevent homelessness among
\nveterans, successfully fighting<\/a> a proposal by the VA to reexamine all PTSD cases in which full benefits had been awarded, working to ban<\/a> no-bid contracts in Katrina reconstruction, and introducing legislation<\/a> to criminalize deceptive political tactics and voter intimidation. And there he was again, introducing a tech plan<\/a> of which Lawrence Lessig wrote<\/a>:\n<\/p>\n
\ngovernment that could radically change how government works. The small
\npart of that is simple efficiency — the appointment with broad power
\nof a CTO for the government, making the insanely backwards technology
\nsystems of government actually work. …”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"