NEW BOSTON, N.H.—Carly Fiorina said that Americans are tired of a “professional political class” during a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Tuesday night.
The former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard argued that a lifelong politician isn’t the leader Americans will be looking for in 2016.
Fiorina criticized her potential rival Hillary Clinton for becoming “the personification of that professional political class.”
“Hillary Clinton must not be president of these United States because she is not trustworthy and she lacks a track record of leadership,” Fiorina said.
She said Americans are losing their sense of “limitless potential,” and that Americans need a president who understands “how the economy actually works.”
“You have the right to fulfill your potential,” Fiorina said. “That’s what our founders meant when they said ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’”
She said that her life story—starting as a secretary and eventually becoming a CEO—is only possible in the United States. But many fear such success might no longer be possible, she said.
“We’re destroying more businesses than we are creating,” Fiorina said. “And it’s not the big businesses we’re destroying, not at all. In fact, big business is getting even bigger. It’s the little businesses we’re destroying. So, it’s the family-owned businesses, the small businesses, the community-based businesses.”
Fiorina added:
“When we’re crushing the small, when we’re crushing the powerless, when we’re crushing those who don’t have the resources or the power to influence what’s going on in Washington, we’re crushing possibilities for all kinds of people.”
In addition to talking up her business experience, Fiorina said that she is uniquely qualified to serve as president because she has known and worked with world leaders for many years.
She said on her first day in office she would make two phone calls. The first would be to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to let him know he has a friend in the Oval Office.
The second would be to the supreme leader of Iran to tell him she would implement severe economic sanctions against the country unless they agreed to unrestricted inspections of their nuclear facilities.
“He might not take the phone call, but he would get the message,” Fiorina said.
Fiorina said that leaders who “challenge the status quo” often make enemies, but that challenging the status quo is the “highest calling” of leadership.
