Pages

Friday, May 29, 2015

Carly Fiorina Shapes Herself as the Republican Foil to Hillary Clinton



WASHINGTON — She has been the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, a senior adviser to a Republican presidential nominee and a candidate for the United States Senate. But Carly Fiorina recently took on her boldest role yet: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loudest critic.
Over the past few weeks, Ms. Fiorina has mocked Mrs. Clinton’s globe-trotting as secretary of state, assailed Mrs. Clinton’s use of only a private email account to do official business, and even accused Mrs. Clinton of stealing intellectual property. From her. Twice.
Ms. Fiorina insists she has no problem with Mrs. Clinton personally — only with her liberal philosophy and policies, and what she dismisses as an unimpressive record on getting things done.
“Like Hillary Clinton, I too, have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe, but unlike her, I have actually accomplished something,” she told conservatives in Iowa in January. “Mrs. Clinton: Flying is an activity, not an accomplishment.” 

On Tuesday, an hour after Mrs. Clinton’s news conference to explain her email practices, Ms. Fiorina came down on her just as harshly. “In effect, @HillaryClinton told us to trust her,” Ms. Fiorina said on Twitter. “Nothing in her track record suggests we should do so.”
Ms. Fiorina easily sticks out among the wide field of possible Republican contenders for president: Most of the others are white men. But what has distinguished her most so far, aside from her gender, is not her private-sector experience or her pro-market policies, but her increasingly pointed attacks on Mrs. Clinton.
Of course, every Republican contender has taken aim at Mrs. Clinton, the presumed Democratic opponent who looms in the distance. But Ms. Fiorina alone can present herself as a natural foil without the added risk of being labeled a sexist man. 

“In a field of men, she could really emerge as a very effective critic of Hillary, which Republicans are going to need,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist in Sacramento. “You look at the field, and obviously there is a space for a very articulate, conservative woman.”
Allies of Mrs. Clinton, who plans to make gender a central part of her appeal, call this a cynical ploy. Ms. Fiorina, they say, is being put to use by a Republican Party that is desperate to damage Mrs. Clinton without antagonizing female voters.
“These guys really believe it’s unfair that women are now running,” said Ann Lewis, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton in her 2008 campaign.
Speaking after Ms. Fiorina had just ridiculed Mrs. Clinton’s travel pace as secretary of state at the Iowa event, Ms. Lewis said: “Carly Fiorina went only to show she could be mean to Hillary.”
And Adrienne Elrod, a spokeswoman for Correct the Record, a group set up to defend Mrs. Clinton, dismissed Ms. Fiorina as “short on substance, with sophomoric one-liners,” in contrast to Mrs. Clinton’s “forward-thinking agenda and lifetime of work fighting for children and families.” 
In an interview, Ms. Fiorina, 60, said she was not seeking the approval of Republican leaders. “The party is not leaning on me to do anything, and I didn’t ask the party’s permission,” she said. 

Read More: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/14/us/politics/carly-fiorina-shapes-herself-as-the-republican-foil-to-hillary-clinton.html?_r=1


No comments:

Post a Comment