Can I Just Vote For Carly Fiorina Now?
Image details: HP CEO Carly Fiorina Addresses Rainbow/Push Conference served by picapp.com
Carly Fiorina’s name has been mentioned quite a bit as a potential running mate for John McCain. But that’s probably not where you heard of her. She was CEO of Hewlett-Packard from 1999 to 2005 and pretty much the most powerful woman in corporate America.
She was fired from HP after an extensive battle — she’s not Mother Teresa, but she knows how to get things done. I’d be cool with voting for Fiorina for president, though it’s not even certain that she has a shot at the VP slot. She’s been campaigning heavily for McCain, though, and runs Victory ‘08, the fundraising arm of the Republican National Convention.
Portfolio interviewed Fiorina yesterday. Personally, I found it refreshing to hear anyone in politics talk clearly about business — rather than the economy. Sure, the economy is a major campaign issue, but it isn’t some mysterious force that is separate from the actions of businesses both large and small. Credit companies didn’t need a bailout because the economy changed its abstract mind about what the stock market would do one day. The actions of credit companies (good and bad) directly resulted in the credit crunch.
One of Fiorina’s statements particularly stood out when it coame to policy issues:
I think a strong dollar is the result of policies, but I don’t think the strong dollar is in and of itself a policy. So what do I mean by that? I think a strong dollar results from a belief that the U.S. dollar is a good investment.
Fiorina has a much better picture of how the economy functions than either McCain or Barack Obama, in my opinion. She’s an expert on the economy in action — how legislation affects business and vice versa.
Mortgage lenders needed a bail out because they acted irresponsibly, as did the thousands of people who took out loans they couldn’t afford.
I wonder if Fiorina will still be in the running after her Viagra comments this week.
I think people will want to know more about why she was fired from HP before they jump on her bandwagon.
The reasoning behind Fiorina’s firing is (very) public knowledge. I think three different books have been published on the topic.
And I entirely agree that mortgage lenders were at fault — but so many people are quick to blame an abstract concept of the economy for the credit crunch. There really was a direct cause and affect — not some invisible hand squeezing the available credit.
I didn’t mean that the reason for her being fired wasn’t (very) public knowledge, I meant that you seem to be endorsing her for VP here yet you barely broached the topic of her biggest professional misstep.