Reich writes: "Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has been a hawk on Iran - criticizing Obama for his willingness to relax economic sanctions."



Robert Reich. (photo: Getty Images)

Carly Fiorina's Hypocrisy

By Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Facebook Page

ypocrisy? Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina has been a hawk on Iran – criticizing Obama for his willingness to relax economic sanctions; claiming the sanctions are “unraveling fast” which she terms a “dangerous development,” warning that Europe is rushing to open the Iranian economy, and accusing Iran of cheating on the sanctions.

Yet when she was CEO of Hewlett-Packard (according to today's Bloomberg News), the company circumvented strict export sanctions on Iran (imposed by Bill Clinton in 1995) by selling hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of products to Iran through a European subsidiary and a Middle Eastern distributor – allowing HP to obtain 41 percent of the Iranian market for printers by 2007. HP’s general manager for the Middle East was quoted as saying, "Iran is a big market for Hewlett-Packard printers.” Moreover, during her tenure at HP, the corporation’s in-house lobbyists pressed Congress to relax economic sanctions, presumably so HP could sell even more to Iran.

Running a business is different from running for president. But if you’re making your business experience the cornerstone of your argument for why you should be president, some consistency might be expected.

What do you think?