It is one of the tenets of Republicanism that business people naturally make good politicians. You know all the cliches. They have to meet a budget. They live in the real world. I could go on.
A more reasonable analysis is that the skills to lead a large corporation are very different from those required to be a politician. As I have said for years, being a good business person does not make you a politician or vice versa. Check out the latest controversy over Meg Whitman’s inablilty to vote for 28 years. A real politician would have dismissed this little controversy quickly.
But corporate CEOs masters of the universe, regardless of gender, are not used to having their pants pulled down in public. In the corporate world you never tell the CEO he-she has no clothes. If you do, you are more likely to get relocated to Siberia or the unemployment line. Politicians on the other hand are used to being abused in public the media or in the mail, etc. They are masochists; gluttons for punishment.
As Dan Walters recently described Meg Whitman’s lack of a voting record and her defense of it, “Business moguls are often surrounded by sycophantic aides who shield them from critical questioning. Politicians can’t hide, and if they try, they come across as cowardly and not ready for prime time.”
I read yesterday that Whitman did not register because she wanted to spend time with her family. This is the problem.
HEY Meg… just say you screwed up and be done with it.
This is what happens to amateur politicans when they let themselves get painted into a corner. The endless excuses and fibs make the problem worse. We all know that elites in this country are too busy being elite to bother to vote. Sonny Bono could not be bothered about voting until he decided to become a politician and if you are saying the same is true for you, so be it. Don’t turn this into a game of “is she telling the truth?”
What California needs is a Governor who can cut deals and stand up to the legislature when appropriate otherwise the state will completely fall off a cliff. Amateurs need not apply.
Postscript
Today I read in Carla Marinucci’s blog http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=48814 that Ms Whitman endorsed US Senator Barbara Boxer in reelection in 2003. Ouch. This will make her toast among conservatives. She even contributed $4,000 to Boxers campaign. Can this get any worse? What is next? I remember when Richard Riordan ran for governor in 2002 and they brought out that he contributed to the reelection campaign of Maxine Waters. From that point on it was all over and Bill Simon won the Republican governortorial nomination.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
it can always get worse,
‘..will fall off a cliff’? As opposed to what we have now?