Can Obama Deliver 'a Megabit In Every Pots?'

摘要

It is December 2008 and President-elect Barack Obama hasn't taken office, but his policy goals are already attracting both intense support and sharp criticism. In a recent public address (distributed via YouTube) Obama set his sights on a subject near and dear to many modern lives: broadband. Broadband, or more specifically, the lack thereof. Taking inspiration from public works projects like the Interstate highway system, Obama has promised to dramatically expand the availability and quality of broadband in the U.S. As he noted, the Internet itself was created in the U.S. and funded in significant measure by public dollars. But today, Amercans' access to the Internet lags behind other nations. Just how far behind is the subject of some debate; Obama has cited a popular statistic that U.S. broadband penetration now ranks 15th in the world.