Obama: ‘I’m a Big Believer in Net Neutrality’

Just a few weeks ago, the ongoing debate over proposed net neutrality rules under consideration by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) appeared to have taken a turn for the worse. At least as far as net neutrality proponents were concerned. But, with President Obama’s left flank increasingly uneasy with the direction he is taking as the midterm election approaches, observers say he may be aiming to shore up his base by tilting leftwards on the issue, one that flies below the radar of most Americans.

Specifically, as Obama seeks to strike a more centrist tone on items like the deficit, taxes and education, tech and telecoms policy observers say he appears to be going out of his way to curry favor with the online left— which political experts say has been in a state of near-revolt for months now—by reaffirming his strong commitment to net neutrality. One tech policy expert that Big Government consulted described the proposed policy as “one of the top items on the American Left’s wish-list,” and one of those guaranteed to “fire up” the online left like the Iraq War did in years past—with the fringe benefit for Obama that most Americans have no idea what net neutrality means, either in theory or in practice.

In an interview filmed after last week’s the State of the Union address, a clip of which is currently being promoted by hard-left media reform group Free Press, Obama is captured on camera underlining that both he and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski are major supporters of net neutrality:

(more…)