Student: Fiorina ‘Undoubtedly a Potential Presidential Candidate to Watch’

Photo courtesy of Gage Skidmore, Wikipedia

The 2016 United States presidential election is approaching and more potential candidates are announcing their campaign for the position. Currently, there are only three candidates likely to run for the Democratic nomination: Hillary Clinton, Martin O’Malley and Jim Webb, although none have officially declared their candidacy.

The Republican Party has numerous potential candidates, including Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson. Just Cruz and Paul have officially declared.

Fiorina is the only other woman considering a run for president besides Hillary Clinton. However, Fiorina has a different political view from Clinton and has a diverse agenda.

Fiorina was born in Austin, Texas in 1954. She dropped out of UCLA law school and decided to become an AT&T sales representative. Soon after, she was named the most powerful woman in American business by Fortune magazine and in 1999 was named president/CEO of one of the world’s most important technology companies, Hewlett-Packard. She definitely knows how to make something out of nothing. The United States is in a horrendous state, economically and financially, but she has what it takes to turn the U.S. around and bring us back on top.

When asked about the possibility of a female president, Ramapo students were not shy in making their opinions known.

James Didonatl, junior, said, “As long as she has the proper qualifications and takes responsibility for leading a country, she would make a good candidate.”

While working for AT&T she had the desire to join the male-dominated Network Systems division. By the time Fiorina reached 35-years-old she became the division’s first female officer. It was not long until Fiorina was named head of North American sales for the company. 

According to HP.com, “Fiorina led the company’s 2002 merger with Compaq Computer, one of the largest high-tech mergers in history. As chairman of HP she also worked to build on HP’s historic commitment to social responsibility, taking global citizenship to another level by leveraging HP’s worldwide presence to make a difference in the lives of millions of people.” Fiorina possesses a type of leadership and a type of versatile skills that the United States needs to begin to rebuild.

She has a bachelor’s degree in medieval history and philosophy from Stanford University. She also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a master’s of science degree from MIT’s Sloan School. Additionally, Fiorina is a very accomplished businesswoman who has gained many honors and awards for her extraordinary contribution to businesses. The Private Sector Council honored Fiorina with its 2004 Leadership Award for her contributions to improving the business of government.

According to HP.com, she was also recognized with the 2002 Appeal of Conscience Award and 2003 Concern Worldwide “Seeds of Hope” Award for her "worldwide efforts to make global citizenship a priority for business.” Fiorina’s accomplishments make her a very convincing candidate for the upcoming presidential election.

“She has experience with leadership and can also make executive decisions. I believe the United States is progressive enough to have a woman president, said Gerassimos Giannovlis, freshman.

Fiorina has recently been verbally intimidating Hillary Clinton and reassuring everyone that she is the only woman candidate fit for the job. According to The Guardian, “Fiorina said news that Clinton had wiped servers of 30,000 private emails reminded her of President Richard Nixon’s excuses when portions of his tape recordings went missing after the Watergate scandal broke.”

Fiorina additionally said that Clinton has no previous accomplishments that make her a worthy presidential candidate. Fiorina is not scared of her competitors and is passionate in her work. She is undeniably a potential presidential candidate to watch.

jsanzar1@ramapo.edu