Hey President Obama: Ever Heard of Broadband?

Color me officially frustrated. I've long lamented the lack of emphasis policymakers put on broadband, often relegating it to the back burner when it's the key enabler of their other goals, but this angst reached a new high on Saturday when President-Elect Obama released his latest weekly address on YouTube.

In it he argued for why we need an America Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. Yet he did something that perturbs me to no end: not one mention of broadband generally or fiber specifically.

But what's most puzzling/infuriating is that other elements of his plan can only happen if broadband's available.

Let's parse through one of the last paragraphs in his remarks to show what I mean:

"To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient." - To make buildings more energy efficient they need broadband to become smarter and more connected. And he fails to mention the many other energy/environmental efficiencies that can be driven by leading more networked lives.

"To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools." - Laying fiber creates jobs building infrastructure too!!! Plus these jobs tend to be higher quality, requiring special training and lasting longer then laying asphalt. And how in the heck can we talk about building a "21st century economy" without talking about broadband?

"To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year." - What good does it do to "computerize our health care system" if we don't have the broadband in place that makes this digital information accessible to everyone from everywhere? And nothing will reduce healthcare expenditures more than the possibilities of in-home medical care, which can only exist in a wired world.

"To make America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries." - What good are "21st century classrooms" if students have to stop learning when they go home? What could possibly be more impactful to education than having access to all the world's information and an unlimited number of tutors, classmates, and other online resources?

I find this all rather bizarre. Obama obviously understands the value of broadband. He used it brilliantly in his presidential campaign, and one of his campaign promises has been to bring broadband to all corners of America.

Yet in this address it almost feels like he's forgotten about that promise and instead is assuming we're already living in a fully wired world.

To some degree I actually find this exciting as it shows that he is thinking about how can we use these networks to improve all facets of society.

But I'm also deeply concerned as it suggests that amidst all the other issues on his plate, Obama has taken his eye off the broadband ball at what's arguably the most critical time in broadband's history.

Everyone knows broadband's going to be included in some way as part of the economic stimulus package. What no one seems to know is how much and how impactful it will be.

Our new president faces a choice over the next couple of weeks as he rallies support behind his first major policy initiative: does he want to marginally improve the status quo or take a transformative step into America's future?

Does he want to make things a little bit better for a little while, or lay the foundation for America's competitiveness in the 21st century?

Does he want to push forward into a digital tomorrow that only some can benefit from or that everyone has access to?

Does he want to fall back on the same old legislative solutions that have gotten us to this point, or does he want to embrace new ideas like the Rural Fiber Fund that leverage government's strengths while avoiding its weaknesses?

President Obama, our future rides on your answers to these questions. We cannot afford another 8 years of a president who won't lead the push to fiberize America. We believe that you're up to the challenge, and we're ready, willing, and able to help.

But please, if for no other reason than to preserve the sanity of broadband advocates, can you at least mention it in speeches like this from now on?