Carly Fiorina( [link edited for length] has been one of John McCain's most prominent supporters in his campaign for the Presidency. At one time, she was being talked about as a possible running mate, before the selection of Sarah Palin as the best bait for the women's vote.
But today, she is in the dog house with McCain's campaign team. This is because, apparently in an unguarded moment, she cast doubt on Palin's executive abilities. As she tried to peddle the McCain-Palin line that being Mayor of Wasilla and Governor of Alaska provided Palin with the executive experience necessary to assume the Presidency at a moment's notice, the interviewer asked if she felt that Palin was qualified to be CEO of a major corporation. Fiorina said "No"(http://www.ktrs.com/).
She attempted to recover the gaffe by saying, certainly correctly, that being CEO of a corporation is very different from being a Governor or holding any political office. But then she continued by saying that, just as Palin was unqualified to be CEO, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and John McCain were also unqualified. This was fine, from her point of view--if she had stopped after Joe Biden. But since John McCain is running his campaign in part on the basis that he is a more qulified candidate than Obama because of his experence, it only made matters worse.
As luck would have it, I got a letter from Carly today--"one of a select few being mailed by the Republican National Committee into your area"--she says. She asks me to fill out a questionnaire and return it, along with a minimum donation of $15.00 to pay for the labor of taking my money out of the envelope provided.
In the letter, she takes the time to tell me why my input is so important and why she can tell how important it is. "As the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, one of the world's largest companies and a leader in the high tech industry, I can tell you that electing John McCain as our next President and winning back our majorities in the U.S. Congress is crucial to both our economic security and our national security.
So here is an experienced voice on business and national security. What kind of experience has she had? She worked for AT&T and rose to the level of Vice President. When the company decided to spin off some of its divisions in Lucent, she oversaw the Initial Public offering, which was the most succesful IPO up to that time. Fiorina went with Lucent. When Lucent and Phillips Electronics entered into a jointly owned business, Phillips Consumer Electronics, she became the head of the new busimess. One year later, Phillips and Lucent decided to end the joint venture([link edited for length]).
Fiorina then became CEO of Hewlett Packard. The company had been declining in sales and the stock was highly volatile. Fiorina had some difficulty changing the situation of the corporation([link edited for length]). To improve the company's sales and the value of its shares, Fiorina forced through a merger with Compac, over the objections of the founders' heirs. The immediate effect was good both in the market and on Wall Street, but soon the old volatility returned. And there were conflicts within the company. A good many of the people who came into the company from Compac soon left. In an effort to more effectively compete in the market, Fiorina began layoffs of workers to seek a lower cost labor market. The layoffs seem to have been bedly handled, not helped by the CEO's true but impolitic statement that "nobody is owed a job." In 2006 opposition to Fiorina from the Board of Directors increased, and the left the position with a $21 Million severance package.
She did not feel any immediate need to find a new position, so she wrote a book about her career in business and began giving talks on women and the business world. She did, eventially, let it be known that she would be interested in taking another position as CEO. She was appointed to several boards of directors, and had work as a consultant. But while she had undoubted ability, she also possessed a number of negatives([link edited for length]) no position as CEO appeared. She then let it be known that she might be interested in politics. The McCain campaign snapped her up (or she latched onto them. In any case, she is an adviser to the campaign and one of his spokespersons. How long her current difficulties will persist is not clear.
She is quite right, of course, that the talents and personality traits of a President are not always the most useful in the business world. The referse is also true. Whether or not Fiorina recovers her position in the McCain campaign, the hope is that she will never become the advisor to any President on matters of business or economics or national security.
NOTE TO CARLY: Sorry I don't have time to fill out your questionnaire, but I have already answered many of the questions when I was asked by "Mike" Duncan and two of his friends and posted my answers here([link edited for length]).
Sorry about the $15, too. Will send it when I get my bail-out from the Fed.
©2008 rtbohan, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Thursday, September 18, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, September 18, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of rtbohan only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. rtbohan is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: CarolO
Date: 2008-09-21 18:58:24
What could she say? McClain come out 895th of his class of 899th with math being his worse subject. Sarah Palin went to 5 schools in order to get her Bachelor of Science. (Journalism?)
Obama has a great education, graduated from Harvard was a civil rights attorney and taught constitional law. Joe Biden was not too hot of a student but managed to graduate with a law degree.
Whoever gets in office will have several experts on their staff that do nothing but get to the nitty gritty of economics.
Carly Fiorina had one job and the president has many. Big difference.