Making her announcement on the ABC Good Morning America program this morning Carly Fiorina made it very clear that she will seek the Republican nomination for 2016, becoming the latest entrant in an increasingly crowded field of candidates.
She has never held public office but the former Hewlett-Packard executive said she does not believe that it is necessary to have experience in political office, something that she has heard from Americans while traveling throughout the country.
“Yes, I am running for president,” she said on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” where she made the announcement to host George Stephanopoulos. “I think I’m the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works. I understand the world, who’s in it, how the world works.”
“I understand bureaucracies, and that’s what our federal government has become — a giant, bloated, unaccountable, corrupt bureaucracy,” she said. “I understand technology, which is a tool both to re-imagine government to re-engage citizens in the process of government, and I understand executive decision-making, which is making a tough call in a tough time with high stakes for which you’re prepared to be accountable.”
Meanwhile, in Detroit another non politician was making announcing his run for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination. The retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon used his hometown of Detroit as the backdrop for his announcement this morning.
“I gotta tell you something. I’m not politically correct,” Carson said during his official presidential announcement at Detroit’s Music Hall. “I’m not a politician. I don’t want to be a politician. Politicians do what is politically expedient. I want to do what’s right.”
Carson has become a favorite of the very conservative part of the GOP with his often sharp and over-the-top language. It play’s well with the most conservative elements of the GOP base, where Carson has enjoyed some popularity. To them, his lack of office-holding experience is an asset in a field of current and former elected officials. To his supporters, his politics and personal story, which began in a rough, dangerous and disadvantaged Detroit neighborhood, is a very impressive back story.
Carson was quick to point out this morning that he sees Detroit as an obvious choice, even if his politics aren’t a natural fit for the city that is a stronghold for the Democratic party.
“It’s my hometown, it’s where I grew up, where I initially developed a desire to become a physician, it’s where I got my can-do attitude so that I don’t listen to people who tell me something can’t be done, or else I wouldn’t be talking to you today,” he said “We can win everywhere because I think people at some point will listen and begin to think for themselves, rather than to the pundits and people that try to manipulate them … even liberals can learn to recognize the truth.”
Cason and Fiorina join a field announced GOP candidates that include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. At least five more Republican candidates expect to join the field before the 2016 campaign season really gets rolling.
