Consumer Watchdog has long been critical of the way Google has had easy access to the corridors of power in the Obama Administration. Now there is a clear sign that the Internet giant has lost its luster with the President.
Perhaps Google's repeated privacy missteps and antitrust concerns have prompted the President to distance himself. The motive is not clear, but here's what happened.
Acceptance speeches are tightly scripted and the nominee generally follows the prepared text as it rolls across the TelePrompTer. The text is given to the press before the speech is delivered to facilitate reporting and analysis. According to the text distributed to the media, President Obama was supposed to say:
"We believe that a little girl who's offered an escape from poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could become the founder of the next Google, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the President of the United States — and it's in our power to give her that chance."
Instead he said:
"We believe that a little girl who's offered an escape from poverty by a great teacher or a grant for college could be the next Steve Jobs, or the scientist who cures cancer, or the President of the United States — and it's in our power to give her that chance."
Looks like President Obama understands that Google's image is crumbling even if his speechwriters don't.