Michael K. Powell for Obama CTO

While people are busy navel-gazing about who will run the Federal Communications Commission when Obama rolls into office in January, I'd like to throw a curve ball out of right field and suggest a former FCC Chairman for the to-be-created office of U.S. CTO.

Michael K. Powell has a number of attributes that make him worthy of consideration. He was appointed as a Commissioner to the FCC by Bill Clinton back in 1997, so he's already passed the "smell" test for one Democratic administration - not too crazy, not too right-wing, acceptable to both sides.

You want a guy who has worked with the federal government before, but one who has had some big, bold policy ideas. And you also want someone who has some experience out in the real world. At the FCC Powell was successful dealing with policy issues, working with Congress, and balancing the needs of individual industries, all while fighting the good fight for the average Joe-not-the-plumber.

There's been a lot of crazy talk about plucking someone like Google's Eric Schmidt or Microsoft's Steve Ballmer or Amazon's Jeff Bezos for the post. Can't see it happening; Moving from a big money Fortune 500 high-tech company directly into a low-paying government job is not something I see these guys doing. Bezos would likely get frustrated or bored within 6 months. Ballmer didn't "get" the Internet until it was kicking Microsoft upside the head, and he still doesn't get open source.

Mike likes Net Neutrality. He spelled out a nice clear set of Internet Freedoms [1] before he split to the private sector, laying out guidance for what consumers should ultimately expect and what service providers do when it comes to broadband services.

Mike is a Republican. You can count him against your bi-partisan quota, if you can overlook the fact he was supporting the old guy.

Mike loves technology. Gotta love a guy who said "TiVo is God's Machine" and is a frequent visitor to Best Buy (OK, so I haven't seen him in Best Buy recently and the time I saw him in my Best Buy, he had a camera crew in tow, but I've heard him talk enough about the store to believe he wasn't faking it).  He sits on the boards of Cisco, ObjectVision, and the Rand Corporation, so he knows what's going on across a variety of disciplines.

Do not call registry? Thank Mike for working with the FTC - again, working with the established bureaucracy to get a winner end result.

So, once again, Michael K. Powell for U.S. CTO: Bi-partisan pick, knows technology, has D.C. experience in getting things done and will have the best interests of the end-user at heart - the citizens of our country.

See you down at Best Buy...

- Doug [2]