Should We Take Economic Advice From Fiorina?

Matt Cooper reports from St. Paul: I wrote one of the first pieces on Carly Fiorina after she became the Republican National Committee's Victory Chair, a position making her John McCain's cheerleader in chief. As I'm sitting here in the Xcel Energy Center, catching up on some work before tonight's session of the Republican convention, I have to wonder if America really wants to take advice from Fiorina, who is due to speak tonite.

After last night's weirdly economy-free evening, tonight the convention digs deep into the economy—at least in the pre-prime time hour of 10 p.m. Eastern. Besides Fiorina, eBay's former C.E.O. Meg Whitman and Mitt Romney, he of Bain Capital and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, will speak. Given their track records in business, Whitman and Romney are inherently interesting.

Given her record—being tossed out by her board of directors at H.P.—it's a little more questionable about Fiorina. In some ways she's gotten a bad rap. The merger with Compaq, for which she was so roundly criticized, turned out okay and the company continues to grow rapidly through M&A. The spy scandal that followed her tenure suggests that the board she was dealing with really was, to put it charitably, dysfunctional. Still, Fiorina's tenure makes what she has to say more suspect.

I'm not one of those who thinks she's a joke. Far from it. But forgive me if I take what she has to say tonight with skepticism. We haven't seen her remarks yet, but look for an homage to lower taxes and freer trade and less government spending. One thing that she won't talk about, but could with some authority, is the government procurement process. At Lucent, and before that AT&T, she was heavily involved in government contracting. She knows how nutso the process is and it happens to be something McCain has focused on. Of course, government contracting is dull even for nerds like me who follow it. Still, she's got something to say on that score. Just not to this crowd or the audience tonight.

She also has another assignment. Defend Sarah Palin. Fiorina's been dispatched to talk shows to discuss Palin's executive experience. In her heart, does Fiorina think Palin's had enough? I don't know, but she's out there making the case nonetheless.

Matt Cooper

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