John McCain’s not-so-secret weapon

John McCain’s recent appointment of Carly Fiorina as his chief economic advisor is attracting more attention than he may have anticipated. A high-profile businesswoman and regular talking head on the Fox network, Fiorina has been drafted in by the McCain campaign to act as the Republican candidate’s chief economic advisor. But commentators are also clear that she is there to woo ex-Hillary Clinton supporters. There is even word that if Obama doesn’t pick Clinton for his running mate (it is increasingly assumed that he won’t), Fiorina stands a chance of being McCain’s vice-president.

The hope for McCain is that Fiorina has what it takes to influence the huge number of disenfranchised Clinton supporters who may be dithering over whether to jump ship and vote Republican in November. She brings the same kind of high-powered, pant-suited glamour to politics as Clinton. She rose to prominence when she joined Hewlett-Packard as CEO in 1999. Shortly afterwards Forbes magazine voted her the most powerful businesswoman in America.

There is no doubt that Fiorina cuts an impressive figure. However, there are doubts about her business credentials. She was forced out of Hewlett-Packard in 2005 by the company’s board of directors. During her tenure at the company the stock price dropped 50 per cent - only picking up slightly when she announced her resignation. "The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an economics analyst. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."

Not everyone agrees. “Fiorina's record at HP, while mixed, looks better in retrospect,” said Matthew Cooper, Portfolio’s Washington correspondent. “The merger she orchestrated with Compaq, the subject of a fight among shareholders, did not prove to be HP.'s death knell. And her much-praised successor, Mark Hurd, has continued her acquisition strategy.”

Others are concerned about somebody with no political experience being given so much responsibility: “Yes, Fiorina has been in the limelight for years and understands how to deal with the media,” said Stuart Rothenberg, political commentator for Real Clear Politics. “And yes, she's smart and poised. But being a candidate for office - particularly a very high office - is something very different. Plenty of CEOs who have run for high office, whether senator or governor, have not succeeded, finding the political arena more difficult than they had imagined.”

Online reactions to Fiorina’s appointment by McCain have been mixed. One blogger wrote: “The advisors that a president selects are nearly as important as the president that the nation selects… It's bad enough that McCain, by his own admission, knows little about economic issues, but now he's taking advice from a person who knows even less.” Karen Finney, the Democratic national committee’s head of communications, went further: “With advisers like this, it’s no wonder John McCain doesn’t understand the economy.”

FIRST POSTED JULY 7, 2008