Carly Florina has very smooth and well practiced comments, wonderful inspiring words about leadership. She looks strong, energized, angry but not enraged. She packed the middle school auditorium.
Comments I overheard after the event reflected that New Hampshire people in the audience were shopping around, considering Carly among several other candidates.
Her thoughts are fully polished, long lovely sentences, with multiple phrases and examples spilling out rapidly and without hesitation.
But I liken her to Rubio and not to Christie. Christie speaks of governing work he has done. He has been a US Attorney and now a governor. Carly Florina speaks of her personal work history and of leadership and makes a virtue of being an outsider.
Carly's success depends on Republican voters being so disenchanted with government that they accept her argument that being an outsider is a good thing, and current polls seem to validate this as a winning strategy. She puts "Outsider" right up there front and center. And she makes an important distinction, one which puts a positive frame on her credentials. There is a difference between managers and leaders. Managers make the best of things, inside the system. She noted that there can be bad managers and good managers but managers--people with experience in the failed institution of government--are people limited in vision. Much better, though, are leaders. Leadership, she says, is bringing out the potential in others. Leaders question and improve the system. Leaders can change the direction of something, and America is spiraling from bad to worse, so we need a leader.
Carly's success depends on Republican voters being so disenchanted with government that they accept her argument that being an outsider is a good thing, and current polls seem to validate this as a winning strategy. She puts "Outsider" right up there front and center. And she makes an important distinction, one which puts a positive frame on her credentials. There is a difference between managers and leaders. Managers make the best of things, inside the system. She noted that there can be bad managers and good managers but managers--people with experience in the failed institution of government--are people limited in vision. Much better, though, are leaders. Leadership, she says, is bringing out the potential in others. Leaders question and improve the system. Leaders can change the direction of something, and America is spiraling from bad to worse, so we need a leader.
Emblematic of her 70 minute Town Hall was her summation: a discussion of the two great women in America, Lady Liberty and Lady Justice. She had soaring words about the triumph of liberty, then soaring words about justice holding a sword in one hand and a scale in the other, representing strength and the purity of justice. It was all very smooth and inspiring.
It spoke repeatedly of unleashed potential making the point that she worked her way up from being a mere secretary. (She never mentioned that she was a secretary having just graduated from Stanford, which would complicate the "mere secretary" narrative.)
The policy words on Lady Liberty, the "bring me your huddled masses, yearning to breath free" or the broken chains of slavery on Lady Liberty's ankles were left unsaid, which is good because they contradict her immigration policy.
In her talk she touched on all the current Republican required checklist, in very general terms:
defund Planned Parenthood and oppose abortion
end Affordable Care Act
Support Israel first thing on her first day in office
Cancel the Iran deal second thing on the first day in office
Increase the military
Support our Veterans
Manage by firing some federal employees
criticize federal regulations
criticize government in general
In Christie's summation he warned voters about candidates who speak very generally, and he likened it to the canard about a Chinese meal: after 2 hours you notice you are hungry again. (He did not apologize or in any way distance himself from the Chinese meal canard.) Their comments lack real life substance and clear policy prescriptions, he said. He did not mention Carly or Rubio by name, but their presentations met this test.
A note here on my first-naming "Carly". I do it because she does it. Her signage is just "Carly".
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| Audience of about 500 people packed into the gymnasium |
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| Simple mission statement of three words |
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