Carly Fiorina: Hillary Clinton’s time at State ‘lacks accomplishment,’ has ‘some real blemishes’

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and potential 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said Monday that while 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton has been an example and inspiration for many women, her tenure as secretary of state has “some real blemishes.”

“She’s had a lot of very impressive titles, but a position is just a position — it’s all about what you do in it, and I think her time in the position of secretary of state is demonstrably one that lacks accomplishment but that also has some real blemishes on it,” Ms. Fiorina said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

“It’s a problem when you mislead the American people for a month about what really happened in Benghazi,” she said. “It’s a problem when you believe that Vladimir Putin can be thwarted by a red reset button. I’ve met Vladimir Putin. [I] sat across the table from him; there’s no way a red reset button is going to work. It’s a problem when our relationship with Israel has deteriorated so dramatically, and it’s a problem when terrorism is on the rise, not on the wane as she and the president continue to try to convince the American people.”

Ms. Fiorina said that “of course” Mrs. Clinton, who ended long-running speculation by saying Sunday she’s running for president in 2016, has opened doors for women and has been an “example and an inspiration” for many women.

“And just the fact that she’s running for president is inspiring to many women — I take none of that away from her,” Ms. Fiorina said. “But if we are going to have a real conversation about tapping the potential of men and women, then we also have to be able to talk beyond gender, and talk actually about track record and accomplishment and policies, and I think that’s the ground upon which this debate needs to be waged: What are your policies, what’s your track record, and what are your accomplishments?”

Asked about her own presidential prospects, Ms. Fiorina said: “Well, I’m in South Carolina, so what does that tell you?” She also said she’d be making a final decision and announcement toward the end of the month or the beginning of May.