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We Assume Obama Meant Internet

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by Kevin Maney
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Oct 08 2008 9:02am EDT

We Assume Obama Meant "Internet"

Kevin Maney nitpicks: In the debate last night, Sen. Obama showed that he's far more wonky than techie. At one point, he made this statement:


If we create a new energy economy, we can create five million new jobs, easily, here in the United States.It can be an engine that drives us into the future the same way the computer was the engine for economic growth over the last couple of decades.

And we can do it, but we're going to have to make an investment. The same way the computer was originally invented by a bunch of government scientists who were trying to figure out, for defense purposes, how to communicate, we've got to understand that this is a national security issue, as well.

Welllll...Obama was kind of all balled up there. There's some good historical debate about who invented the computer, but none of the candidates are government scientists. And the computer's invention had nothing to do with communications. It was about calculations.

Obviously, Obama meant to say "Internet." The Internet was the engine of growth and was created for defense purposes.

It's not exactly a major gaffe, but it's a mistake that no one who was decently familiar with the technology industry would be likely to make.

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