FCC Boss and Obama Harvard chum Julius Genachowski desperately hopes that his FCC legacy will be the man who saved wireless, though he'll more likely be remembered for being a wishy washy politician who folded precisely when the agency needed courageous and bold pro-consumer leadership.

While Genachowski's FCC has proclaimed itself to be pro-consumer, they more accurately have engaged in a steady stream of pro-consumer theater: for example net neutrality rules that protect nobody, broadband plans that ignore competition and sky-high prices, and merger conditions that mean nothing.

With his tenure at the FCC likely coming to an end, there has been an increased press interest in trying to examine Genachowski's legacy at the agency, though most have been puff pieces that sacrifice the truth for a sense of fairness. The Washington Post painted Genachowski as an incompetent who had a rough start but has really pulled it together, largely because he blocked an already doomed AT&T T-Mobile deal the DOJ was going to block anyway. Politico, meanwhile, paints Genachowski as a savior to the broadband industry:Unmentioned is that Genachowski's lauded broadband plan, with help from former FCC staffer Blair Levin, was utterly hollow upon closer inspection. It was a plan intentionally designed to offend nobody, and as a result with accomplish nothing. The plan is most notable for setting goals he knew the industry would reach without government help (to score cheap political points), while failing utterly to address what's undeniably the sector's biggest problem: a lack of real competition.

That's not to say his tenure hasn't seen successes, like the grant program overseen by the USDA. The FCC has also been successful at naming and shaming ISPs who fail to deliver promised speeds, and the agency under Genachowski's watch did decide to finally start basing some policy decisions on real world data -- albeit a decade too late.

But many of these should be considered the bare essentials for any functional regulator, and what truly speaks to Genachowski's tenure are the issues he's chosen to ignore. Like how a lack of competition fostered the rise of fraudulent below the line fees, punitive caps, ridiculous overage charges, and broadband meters that simply don't work. He's also been oblivious to AT&T and Verizon's plan to drive tens of millions of DSL users into the arms of cable, creating a stronger cable landline broadband monopoly, driving prices even higher for many users.

Genachowski's biggest failure however was his decision to not reclassify broadband operators as telecommunications carriers against the advice of his staff, putting the agency on unsound legal footing for a generation of broadband battles to come.

To placate the consumer advocate set and overshadow these policy failures, Genachowski's tenure is highlighted with show pony policies that look good but accomplish little, whether it's boldly proclaiming we'll meet wireless coverage goals met months ago, to toothless, voluntary privacy standards nobody in this industry is going to follow.

Genachowski's biggest failing however was his timid failure to reclassify broadband operators as telecommunications carriers (against the advice of his staff), putting the agency on unsound legal footing for a generation of broadband battles to come.

While the press hasn't noticed or underplayed most of this during their love letters to Genachowski's tenure, some consumer advocates have been paying attention. Free Press CEO Craig Aaron this week did the press's job, highlighting that Genachowski's time at the FCC has been an undeniable failure for those who wanted a real pro consumer sea change in the broadband sector:The truly frightening part? Genachowski is the most consumer friendly FCC boss the agency has had during the entire lifespan of this website. With a long string of FCC chiefs who have ignored competitive issues, buckled to the whims of the biggest players, laughed off consumer interests, and jumped into posh telecom-industry lobbying gigs after their tenures ended, that's certainly not saying much.