John McCain for President of the United States

This entry is the first of several I plan on the 2008 US Presidential election.  I am going to analyze the candidates with respect to a single issue: Would his or her election facilitate the success of spectrum-related innovation, both respect to (1) technical advances in next generation radio technology and (2) regulatory reform that will enable new and efficient uses of spectrum?   I don’t recommend that anyone actually cast their ballot on this issue.  Indeed, even those in the industry should take a broader view, considering the candidates stance on the war in Iraq, the economy, health care, and many other concerns.  Nevertheless, someone has to inform the public with respect to spectrum policy and this election, so I will try fill the void as best I can.

With respect to spectrum-related innovation, John McCain is the current front runner.   He is the only candidate that both (1) appreciates the importance of the wireless communications technology to improving our society, and (2) can resist the temptation to meddle in its development.  His leading opponents in the Democratic Party also do fairly well on the first criterion, but fall rather short on the second one.

Former US FCC Chairman Michael Powell backs McCain.  Powell may be the most innovative FCC Chairman in the history of the Commission.   In his endorsement statement, Powell says that “Senator McCain has a deep and principled understanding of how the digital revolution is transforming the social and economic landscape.”   

McCain admits weakness in technology and economic policy, but his Administration is very unlikely to be duped in to promulgating intrusive, unnecessary, and counterproductive telecommunications regulation.  While appointments at FCC and NTIA are unknown, Former Senator Phil Gramm will likely be McCain’s first Treasury Secretary.  Also look for Theodore Olsen as Attorney General or on the Supreme Court.  Say what you will about these men on social issues, but they are rock solid behind free markets and limited government – the kind of environment we need to see revolutionary innovation humanity’s use of the spectrum. 

McCain’s campaign web site hints at his hands off approach with respect to telecommunications issues.  His proposed pro-innovation tax cuts include banning Internet taxes and new cell phone taxes.  He also wants to make permanent the R&D tax credit, but both Clinton and Obama also advocate extensions.

Sen John McCain (R-AZ) is a longtime member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees spectrum, telecommunications, and Internet policy.  As IDG News Service reports, this arguably makes him the most experienced of the major candidates on technology issues.  While nothing terribly profound has come out of Commerce Committee during his presence, it has at least done no discernable harm during a period of revolutionary advances in communications technology (e.g., the Internet, commercial wireless explosion, etc.). 

In his role on the Commerce Committee, McCain had a hands-on role in setting aside spectrum for public safety and clearly obtained some level of mastery of a complex issue.   Yet despite my support here, I still have mixed feeling about his performance on this issue.  On the one hand, he correctly chastised the stodgy broadcast television industry for blocking change.  On the other hand, he still stood by the balkanization of the spectrum between commercial and public uses.  We now see the consequences of that position — the D block reserved for public safety will not meet the FCC reserve price in the recent spectrum auction, which essentially makes the policy a failure.  A much better route would have been to promote public safety use of commercial spectrum accompanied by criticality driven spectrum access protocols that would ensure first responders would have network communication during major emergencies.

In later entries to the blog, I hope to rebut some of the criticisms that John McCain “doesn’t know economics” and that he views technology issues as less important.  I also will explore Clinton and Obama’s positioning in this space.  In particular, Obama has taken some fairly detailed positions that deserve further study.