Net Neutrality: Obama off to a Great Start Post Senate Drubbing

     The biggest joke is the GOP warning that if Obama he does executive action on immigration they won't cooperate with him. I mean they haven't cooperated with him at all in 2 years and now Reince Priebus who was the biggest voice for the GOP doing immigration is now saying they should forget it.

      http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-obama-needs-to-do-executive-action.html

      This is what the economists call a 'free good.'

      http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/2844/economics/definition-of-a-free-good/

      What this amounts to is something for which there is no opportunity cost for. Obviously there is no opportunity cost for Obama taking executive action on immigration-or taking it for anything else for that matter-as the GOP will never cooperate with him on anything anyway.

      http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/11/10/mitch-mcconnells-mission-derade-and-destroy-the-obama-presidency/

      So realistically, if he wants to get anything done in the next two years he'll need to use executive action early and often. The GOP will shriek that he's somehow doing something evil and perversely unconstitutional. However, in matter of fact, he is fully within his constitutional rights and anyway, he's actually used EO until now quite sparingly compared with his predecessors.

     http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/07/10/how-obama-has-used-executive-powers-compared-to-his-predecessors/

     He needs to actually bone up on them and do more in the next 26 months.

     UPDATE: Just so we're clear, what he did too wasn't executive action exactly which the above might not make clear.

     Today his new move on net neutrality is a great start. Why is it a good thing? Well for me I need no more than what Ted Cruz said about it as a selling point. He likens it as Obamacare for the Internet. That doesn't faze me as I like Obamacare-it's already insured 10 million more Americans and counting.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/ted-cruz-net-neutrality_n_6133584.html

    So I don't need anymore than that. However, if you need more, think of it this way. It will do a lot to speed up and improve your Internet experience.

    "On Monday, President Barack Obama came out in favor of the "strongest possible rules to protect net neutrality," endorsing a popular proposal that would empower the Federal Communications Commission to require Internet service providers to treat all web traffic equally and not charge content providers for better access."

     "We cannot allow Internet service providers to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas," Obama said in a statement.

   
      "Obama is also asking for a ban on paid prioritization, a practice that allows companies to put service in the "slow lane" if a content provider doesn't pay a fee."

       "If a consumer requests access to a website or service, and the content is legal, your ISP should not be permitted to block it," Obama's statement said. "Nor should ISPs be able to intentionally slow down some content or speed up others ... based on the type of service or your ISP's preferences."

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/10/obama-net-neutrality_n_6132814.html

     As Craig Aaron put it, the President may have just saved the Internet.

     "During his first run for the White House, Barack Obama promised that he would take "a back seat to no one" on Net Neutrality."

     "Today, the president finally got in the driver's seat."

     "Early this morning, President Obama issued a clear and powerful statement of support for real Net Neutrality -- one that left no wiggle room or confusion about where he stands."

     "The short summary for anyone who has been following the debate over Net Neutrality: THIS IS HUGE."

      "The president's statement is worth quoting at length:"

An open Internet is essential to the American economy, and increasingly to our very way of life. By lowering the cost of launching a new idea, igniting new political movements, and bringing communities closer together, it has been one of the most significant democratizing influences the world has ever known.

'Net Neutrality' has been built into the fabric of the Internet since its creation -- but it is also a principle that we cannot take for granted. We cannot allow Internet service providers (ISPs) to restrict the best access or to pick winners and losers in the online marketplace for services and ideas. That is why today I am asking the Federal Communications Commission to answer the call of almost 4 million public comments, and implement the strongest possible rules to protect Net Neutrality.

     "The president goes on to say:

To be current, these rules must also build on the lessons of the past. For almost a century, our law has recognized that companies who connect you to the world have special obligations not to exploit the monopoly they enjoy over access in and out of your home or business. That is why a phone call from a customer of one phone company can reliably reach a customer of a different one, and why you will not be penalized solely for calling someone who is using another provider. It is common sense that the same philosophy should guide any service that is based on the transmission of information -- whether a phone call, or a packet of data.

     "So the time has come for the FCC to recognize that broadband service is of the same importance and must carry the same obligations as so many of the other vital services do. To do that, I believe the FCC should reclassify consumer broadband service under Title II of the Telecommunications Act -- while at the same time forbearing from rate regulation and other provisions less relevant to broadband services. This is a basic acknowledgment of the services ISPs provide to American homes and businesses, and the straightforward obligations necessary to ensure the network works for everyone -- not just one or two companies."

     "Obama's words arrive at a crucial moment in the fight for real Net Neutrality. For months and months, his appointee to head the Federal Communications Commission has put forward convoluted, loophole-ridden proposals to avoid reclassifying broadband under Title II. Both FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's original slow-lane-creating "706" proposal and the baffling "hybrid" currently under consideration would endanger the open Internet as we know it."

     "The FCC is an independent agency, but the president appointed its commissioners who pay attention to what he says. Today's statement sends a clear message to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: Stop messing around and get on the surest path to protecting the open Internet."

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/the-president-might-have_b_6134214.html

     UPDATE: I should quote the last paragraphy of Aaron's piece:

     "In the weeks ahead, we need to put as much energy into advancing good policies as we did into opposing bad ones. Now that the president has stood up for us, we need to stand up for him."

       President Obama could use some appreciation-as much as he has to contend with.