Carly Fiorina announces Republican candidacy for POTUS

[roo_ster]

One description of her time at HP (which I haven't researched, and won't until she seems to actually be a contender worth my time to research) is that she was willing to take the heat and make some unpopular changes that were necessary to advance the company (or at least allow it to survive.)

If true, that's the kind of person we need.

I don;t know if it was necessary.  The resulting company was nothing to write home about.  Just as middling, but bigger.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Eh, it's debatable that HP is a "middling" company, but it's also largely irrelevant.  Fiorina saw HP through the dot com blowup.  The fact HP survived at all is no mean feat.

Fiorina started as a secretary and worked her way up to the very top of the ladder at AT&T/Lucent and then HP.  I don't know much about her politics, but her business chops are solid.

[Ben]

I don't know much about her politics, but her business chops are solid.

Which is kind of an endorsement to Birdman's suggestion. It would nice to have a VP that actually did some work. Though I suspect her skills would serve much better in a few of the Secretary roles.

[wmenorr67]

Which is kind of an endorsement to Birdman's suggestion. It would nice to have a VP that actually did some work. Though I suspect her skills would serve much better in a few of the Secretary roles.

Can anyone tell me what the VP's actual role is in the government?

[mtnbkr]

Can anyone tell me what the VP's actual role is in the government?

1.  They're the warm failover for the prez.
2.  They preside over the senate.
3.  Cast tiebreaking votes in the sentate.
4.  Molest the womenfolk.  Oh, sorry, that's a duty Creepy Rob Lowe Joe Biden created.

Chris

[Perd Hapley]

Can anyone tell me what the VP's actual role is in the government?

They (hopefully) help the president to win elections.

[makattak]

Can anyone tell me what the VP's actual role is in the government?

The Vice President has little real power. However, he can take on a role as a political enforcer and close advisor to the president.

Or he can be the court jester. Clearly, we have the latter well illustrated these past 6+ years.

[MechAg94]

You forgot Assassination Insurance....in one of two ways.

[wmenorr67]

The VP's only job spelled out in the Constitution is to be the presiding officer of the Senate.  He/She only has a vote to break a tie.  Other than that the VP is the President's lackey.

[RevDisk]

One description of her time at HP (which I haven't researched, and won't until she seems to actually be a contender worth my time to research) is that she was willing to take the heat and make some unpopular changes that were necessary to advance the company (or at least allow it to survive.)

If true, that's the kind of person we need.

Partly true. She started as a management trainee at AT&T. Did alright to very good in middle senior management. HP packaged up all their old non-IT stuff and spun it off as Agilent Technologies. Which has done alright. There was some other... not hugely controversial but not great decisions. At HP, the merger with Compaq was a slow motion car crash and the pivotal moment of HP's slow decline ever since. In my opinion, she was a not terrible but not great CEO. She made a very bad call on the HP/Compaq deal. HP hasn't done well since.

I'm not a fan because she's a big believer in globalization, offshoring and H1B expansion. Very much a "this quarter earnings", and not a long term strategist. I wouldn't want her as a president. I have no doubts she would do good things for shareholders, but I'd expect very much an attitude of "kick the American workers in the nuts until things work out."

[Hutch]

Per McCain, the job of Veep is to inquire daily about the health of POTUS, and to attend the funerals of third-world leaders.