That Carly Fiorina might not be the best choice for a high-profile McCain surrogate is not exactly news here. But as McCain continues his assault on Obama's choices to be his VP vetters, the campaign needs to go after Fiorina hard.
It's pretty clear why McCain is so enamored with Fiorina. She is attractive, a good speaker, a success story on first blush, and a woman. No doubt McCain sees her as a way to peel off some Hillary voters. But -- and this can't be repeated enough -- she was a TOTAL FAILURE as a CEO. Under her tenure at HP from 1999 to 2005, the company's stock price stayed flat, while the competition all saw significant gains. She pushed through a controversial merger with Compaq in 2002 that led to the shedding of thousands of jobs and did nothing to improve the company. When the board finally fired her in 2005, the company's stock JUMPED by more than 10 percent the next day. "The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners, told the media at the time. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."
Fiorina was known for focusing on her own image at all costs. She alienated shareholders and her board, and as things went south indulged in a host of conspiracy theories (sexism being a favorite one despite no evidence at all to back it up). And with the release of a book in 2006, Fiorina tried to rewrite history, casting herself as a great modernizer. But, as tech-writer Michael Malone, put it: "She's gone public with her opinion that she took a stodgy old company and moved it forward, turning it into a leading-edge business. But look at her tenure. She took a company that was one of the most innovative of all time, one that empowers its employees, and turned it into a top-down company that was trying to profit off the PC market — an aging business that was past its twilight. Where's the cutting edge in that?"
And to boot, when she left HP, she got a $21 million windfall, despite the fact it violated the company's own policy. Now she's all over the TV, flacking for McCain without having to answer for the fact that she's not just an ex-CE), she's a failed ex-CEO. Obama's campaign needs to make an issue of her. By elevating someone who nearly drove one of the country's best companies into the ground, McCain is showing an incredible lack of judgment. Especially when she represents much of what is wrong with corporate America today. So is McCain stupid or just convinced no one will call him out on this? Maybe he just likes her because she understands that computer doohickey that frightens him so much.