No, not a 17-year-old’s sex life. That’s fair game in today’s media world, it seems. No, not abortion or whether or not a candidate considered such or will legislate against choice to use it. That’s fair game too. No, not gun ownership or support of that. That’s been discussed at length. No, not whether some candidate was a member of the PTA. That is certainly up for discussion. Certainly energy policy is. Along with service to country and whether or not one party supports the military or the battle against terror, etc.

But what’s not being discussed? How about our nation’s policies toward innovation? I’ve watched a lot of the two political conventions. I’ve heard a few words about support for technology and science — quickly are forgotten in the noise about McCain’s vice presidential pick — but I’ve heard nary a word about how we’re going to ensure that the United States continues to be a place where innovation happens. Increasingly I’m hearing from industry leaders that our innovation leadership is under major attack for a whole lot of reasons. Immigration policy. Education system quality. Taxation and regulation. And on and on.

Yet we don’t openly discuss it. We’d rather talk about some 17-year-old’s sex life or download the latest shiny object from Google. Question: how did that shiny object get here?

So, yesterday I went and talked with one of the formost experts on innovation: Judy Estrin. She’s on the board of directors of Walt Disney and FedEx. She’s written a book on the topic, Closing the Innovation Gap.

Here’s the video shot with my cell phone of our 40-minute conversation about the topic. But, remember, you must not discuss this. It’s in the unwritten rules of politics this year. Instead, head over to Memeorandum and see what you are allowed to talk about. Today’s topic: whether the press is fair when dealing with Presidential Candidates.

Oh, and don’t link to this post. We wouldn’t want it showing up on Memeorandum or Digg now, would we? After all, it’s not on the “approved” list of things to talk about in this political season.

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