Quote of the Day

"He will apparently declare victory on the economy tonight, but of course, whatever life there is in the economy is not due to his policies, it's in spite of his policies."
-- Carly Fiorna, former HP CEO, before President Obama's State of the Union Address


Well, smack me in the knickers and scuttle me crumpets, dear Carly FIorina isn't willing to give President Barack Obama any credit for the improved economy, which improved during his tenure as president.  No doubt other Republicans will back her up.  Just like they weren't willing to give the president any credit for having any part or responsibility in the killing of Osama bin Laden. Or any credit for the vast majority of Americans being very satisfied with their health care.

Shocked we are, shocked.

No doubt, though, Ms. Fiorina would have been thrilled to give the president full blame if the economy had tanked. Unlike her not bleating a peep when the economy imploded under George W. Bush, since that probably wasn't his fault, under the Fiorina Standards.  And I think it's a fair guess that if Mitt Romney had been elected president with the same positive results as we're seeing under President Obama, she'd have been thrilled beyond belief to give him full credit.  

Note:  economies don't succeed in spite of bad policies.  When there are bad policies, that is like one of the top leading causes of crushing an economy. to smithereens.  Ask George W. Bush.

On the other hand, lost in the insulting stupidity of Carly Fiorina's lame swipe at the president is one little nugget of unintended gold -- a Republican acknowledging that there is now actually life in the economy.  Something that didn't seem possible six years ago when Mr. Obama took office after the Bush Economy crashed.

By the way, it's worth nothing a few things about Carly Fiorina.

She's preparing an exploratory committee to run for President of the United States.  So, any opinions coming out of her must be kept in that perspective.

In 2012, she ran for the United States Senate in California and lost to Barbara Boxer.  So, any opinions coming out of her must be kept in that perspective.

And in 2005, the Hewlett-Packard board of directors forced her to resign after a deeply rocky tenure, which included 30,000 layoffs after merging with Compaq and outsourcing jobs overseas.  So...well, you know. Any opinions -- especially about economic matters, coming out of her must be kept in that perspective.

Worse, though, is her rousing defense of her record as CEO at Hewlett-Packard.  While I understand anyone defending themselves, there are honest, open ways of doing so, and there are ways that make you look blind and foolish, as in --

“I’m extremely proud of what I did at HP. I will run on that record all day long.”

That record she's joyful to run on includes a net drop in HP stock of more than 50 percent during her tenure.  The day after she left the company, HP stock soared 6.9 percent.

Tangentially, in a totally personal note, I spent a bit of time at the Hewlett-Packard booth during the recent CES.  I was praising their impressive new "Stream" line of computers and tablets and at one point asked, "How in the world were you able to make such extremely good systems at such incredibly low prices.  "We're HP!' the person I was talking with proudly and immediately replied.  I gave the person a look and said, "Well...just a few years ago, you wouldn't have said that, since your product line was in the dumps." There was a brief pause, and then the person smiled understandingly, not even attempting to argue with me and then made a correction -- "We're the new HP." 

So, yes, that's the swell record as head of HP that Carly Fiorina will run on all day long.  I think most people would, too.  Run and run and run, as far away as possible.