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We've asked a lot of youtube users to submit some questions
and get your take on technology, foreign policy...
Let's make it happen.
Senator Obama, welcome to youtube.
Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
I guess you've virtually been here for a while through your youtube channel.
Absolutely.
But it's good to have you here in person,
and we're just gonna ask you a few questions from youtube users today.
But first you should probably say why you're here at google in the first place
if you're here to announce your technology and innovation platform.
why does a candidate need a technology and innovation platform?
Well because technology is not only posing enormous opportunities for America,
but if we can apply technology to some of the big problems that we face
like health care, or energy, or education,
then we can leap over some of the problems that
have been plaguing us for a very very long time.
And one of the things that I've seen
is that technology gets pushed aside as something separate
from some of these other problems,
when in fact it gives us opportunity to really make progress
that we haven't seen in a very long time.
Now you've used technology a lot in your campaign,
youtube channel, myspace profile, a lot of stuff on your own site as well.
In fact I was reading you had over 15,000 policy ideas
submitted to your website
from average voters across America,
Are any of them any good?
Some of them are good,
and part of what we're trying to model in our campaign is
how we're going to run our government.
You know, we're going to have a chief technology officer that thinks about
how to integrate technology into every aspect of what government does
buildling on some of the work that I've already done as a senator
to set up, for example, a "google for government",
where people can track in real time where money is being spent
by the government.
We're trying to model transparency
so that people can watch we we're doing
during the course of a campaign,
we want them to be able to watch what we're doing
when I'm in the White House.
If you're in the White House,
do you think you'll start a White House youtube channel?
You know, I haven't thought about it that way,
but here's what I have said:
we're going to have sort of 21st century fireside chats,
where I'm speaking directly to the American people
through videostreams,
because it allows me to interact directly in a way that
I think will enhance democracy
and strengthen our government.