"You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer."
We all know that McCain is not comfortable with economic issues, theory, or, heck, much about anything that has to do with jobs and business. He said it himself.
That is why I've been dumbfounded over the past three to four months as I've watched disgraced HP CEO Carly Fiorina become his surrogate for economic policy and business issues.
If you don't remember, Carly was a super star CEO at HP. She was on the cover of every major business magazine. And she was a disaster for HP.
Forced out by the board three years ago, she is now desperate to revive her image (she doesn't need $$ as, of course, she got some outrageous amount of severance and "bonus" for running HP into the ground) and her career.
Well now the MSM has finally asked: What the Heck is she doing?
In today's New York Times, Elizabeth Bumiller asks essentially this question and comes up with some very good details on her and her "accomplishments".
What I can't fathom is why McCain would associate himself with a loser. Mitt Romney is a business super star - a real one - why not just ask Mitt for some recommendations?
From the article:
Ms. Fiorina’s official title is chairwoman of the Republican National Committee’s "Victory ’08" committee dedicated to electing Mr. McCain as president, and she is typically described as an economic adviser to the candidate. To some extent, she is. But Mr. McCain’s campaign advisers say her real role within their testosterone-heavy circle matters more: A high-profile female face for a candidate whose support among women lags substantially behind that of his Democratic rivals.
But even the GOP insiders know:
a number of Republicans say Ms. Fiorina is using the McCain campaign to rebuild her image after her explosive tenure at Hewlett-Packard. They also say it is hard to see why a woman widely criticized for mismanaging one of Silicon Valley’s legendary companies is advising and representing a candidate who acknowledged last year that he did not understand the economy as well as he should.
I love this quote:
"What a blind spot this is in the McCain campaign to have elevated her stature and centrality in this way," said Mr. Sonnenfeld, the senior associate dean for executive programs at the management school and one of Ms. Fiorina’s sharpest critics. "You couldn’t pick a worse, non-imprisoned C.E.O. to be your standard-bearer."