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bobbyw24
11-05-2009, 07:59 PM
Is Obama Back-Tracking on Net Neutrality?
by Capitol Confidential

Is the Obama administration worried about the political ramifications of its push for net neutrality? That’s a question being asked by opponents of the policy in the wake of news that White House senior adviser Susan Crawford resigned last week.


Crawford, an adviser to Obama on technology and communications policy, is a strong proponent of net neutrality, which critics have charged would amount to a government takeover of the internet. The policy has been the focus of widespread, bipartisan opposition in recent weeks, emanating from everyone from internet service providers to liberal-aligned groups and elected Democrats at the state and federal level.

Crawford’s resignation attracted little attention when the American Spectator noted it on Monday, the day before the 2009 election. The results of the election have had the virtually the entirety of the U.S. media focused on Republican wins in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, and what has been described as a “rejection” of the Obama agenda. But observers say that Crawford’s exit may be part of that story, too: According to the Spectator, Crawford ran afoul of White House economic adviser Larry Summers, who sources say may be concerned about the political impact of net neutrality. In its write-up, the Spectator noted that:

“[Summers] and other senior Obama officials were unaware of how radical the draft Net Neutrality regulations were when they were initially internally circulated to Obama administration officials several weeks ago. ‘All of sudden Larry is getting calls from CEOs, Wall Street folks he talks to, Republicans and Democrats, asking him what the Administration is doing with the policies, and he isn’t sure what they’re talking about,’ says one White House aide. ‘He felt blind-sided, and Susan was one of those people who heard about it.’”


It now appears that Crawford is the latest to be thrown under the Obama bus, and that the Summers upset may have been responsible for the moderation of proposed net neutrality regulations away from


http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/05/obama-back-tracking-on-net-neutrality/