by Rick Pearson
Carly Fiorina, the former computer executive who is now a top economic adviser to presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain, said she thinks any concerns over the Arizona senator’s knowledge about economics have been exaggerated—with help from the candidate, himself.
“It’s been overblown because, first of all, as you know, John is a humble unscripted guy and he’s a very accessible guy and that’s great. But when you happen to say something slightly wrong, or that’s interpreted in a certain way, you know, people can run off with that,” Fiorina told the baiduhai in an interview today.
McCain has made a series of statements since last fall indicating he was not as well versed on economic matters as he’d like to be. He told The Wall Street Journal in November that he knows “a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.” A month later, The Boston Globe reported him saying, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
But Fiorina said while McCain’s theme of straight talk can cause problems, “he won the primaries because people see an authentic man who believes what he says and who walks the walk.” She said “while there may be some downsides to it, I think the upsides are far more important.”In reality, Fiorina said, McCain “has, in my judgment a lot more economic experience than either one of his Democratic opponents.” And she discounted the management role of the presidency in the boom-and-bust cycle of the economy, attempting to offset concerns that a recession under the current GOP administration would translate to voter dissatisfaction with a Republican presidential contender at the ballot box in November.
“No president of the United States of whatever party caused the housing boom, the housing bust and the credit crunch. It’s just not how our economy works,” she said. “A president of the United States doesn’t sit and manage the economy like a CEO does. If you want that kind of economy, go to Russia or you go to China, but you don’t get it here.”
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Fiorina contended leading Democrats, including Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, who are blaming the Iraq War for the nation’s economic conditions, such a high gas prices, “may not have as firm a grasp on how the economy works as they would like to propose.”
“The Iraq war actually doesn’t have anything to do with current fuel prices. Investors’ speculating about where fuel prices are going to go has something to do with them. The demand that’s being created in China and India has a lot to do with them. But the Iraq War really doesn’t have anything to do with them,” she said.
Fiorina, who was president, CEO and chairman of Hewlett-Packard Co. until her ouster in 2005, has been the subject of some speculation as a potential McCain running mate. The Arizona senator indicated last fall that “somebody who’s really well grounded in economics” might be someone to compliment his own presidential candidacy.
But Fiorina said talk of a McCain running mate was “inside baseball” to most Americans, though she didn’t say she wasn’t interested.
“How can you realistically say you’re not interested, but on the other hand, that isn’t why I’m doing this,” Fiorina, who also is chairing the Republican National Committee’s “Victory ’08” program in coordination with McCain.