This is what's wrong with the pro-business Republicans, McCain, the "MBA Presidency" and all of that. Carly Fiorina (former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and McCain backer) said today that Sarah Palin didn't have the skills to run a major corporation. Nor, she said, did John McCain, Barack Obama, or joe Biden. But that didn't stop her from endording McCain and Palin. Apparently it's only the US Presidency, which is easier than running a major corporation. Note: no it's not. A Fortune 500 executive gets paid millions, is not much in the public eye, and has a concentrated task to keep corporate stock prices looking good.
It's not easy, but let's be realistic about how tough it is compared to the US presidency. For one thing, there's rarely a limit on the budget a CEO can use to hire talent to help. None of the jobs of motivation, speaking, or persuasion that a CEO needs ti develop can match that of the requirements for a President.
The US President has to handle every aspect of domestic and foreign policy on a limited budget in the public eye. He or she has to decide life or death issues. He even has to live in the office. And he regularly has to explain himself to the press. Also, corporations do not have "checks and balances."
This contempt for the office of the presidency is really contempt for the US government, belied by wearing little lapel pin flags. If you want to elect someone who thinks that being president is a step down from being a Fortune 500 CEO, vote for McCain and Palin. If you want to vote for someone who thinks that being President is the most important job in the country, vote for Obama. It's getting easier to figure this one out all the time.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
It's only the Presidency
Posted by The Law Talking Guy at 1:15 PM
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3 comments:
And despite their own self image, most CEOs aren't as accountable for success or failure as Presidents are. Between the golden parachutes and the inflate stock option deals, even CEOs that run their companies into oblivion walk away from the experience rich beyond their wildest dreams...well, beyond my wildest dreams anyway.
Fiorina should also consider that if she had done as President some of the things that she did as CEO of Hewlett Packard, she would have been impeached (Nixon was).
And the CEO of a company rarely makes decisions that could require weighing the lives of hundreds against the lives of thousands.
LTG is right that being President is much more difficult. What an absolutely asinine thing for Fiorina to say.
By the way, as I ate dinner tonight I was watching Chris Mathews. He and both of his guests (one Democrat and one Republican) both thought that Fiorina's association with McCain is about to get somewhat more distant. They were telling lots of jokes about McCain saying things like "please don't do me any favors" and "She'll retract that statement tonight or she'll be summering with Phil Graham."
John McCain not only doesn't know anything about the economy, he apparently doesn't even know anyone who does. When he needs advice he goes to naive ideologues like Graham and failed celeb-CEOs like Fiorina (HP's stock value dropped by 50% during her tenure as CEO).
With financial scandals piling up that few in the public understand, there is some intuition among the public that we need someone smart in the WH. You hear about Wall Steet bailouts, the Fed, and Financial policy, and John McCain (I don't understand the economy) doesn't come to mind as the solution. Sure as hell not the Mayor of Wasilla.
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