Can Fiorina Pass the Policy Test?

David Frum recently interviewed California GOP Senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina. Fiorina is an experienced businesswoman and a courageous cancer survivor, but the interview revealed that she needs a little work on the specifics of her policy platform.

A few weeks ago, FrumForum editor David Frum sat down for an interview with California GOP Senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina. Fiorina is an experienced businesswoman and a courageous cancer survivor, but the interview revealed that she needs a little work on the specifics of her policy platform.

There were many positive points in the interview: her passionate explanation for why she should be elected to the Senate; her staunch opposition to Obama’s health care reform agenda; her stated willingness to reach across the aisle to work with California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

But when pressed on how exactly to fix the health care system, she avoided particulars. She supports a ban on denying coverage to those with existing conditions, but didn’t provide a solid answer as to how one would address the moral hazard that this would raise.

Asked how to address the growing costs of Medicare and Medicaid, she said that “there have been multiple opportunities that the Senate has had to do some things with Medicare and Medicaid which they have failed to do.” However, she didn’t offer a suggestion as to where to cut.

Questioned on how to create jobs, she said that payroll and business taxes needed to be cut. Continuing, she dove into generalities, saying only that she would fight for every job and encourage innovative industries. Our question is: how?

A new poll has Carly Fiorina neck and neck with Tom Campbell in the race for the nomination. To further gain ground, Fiorina may need to convince primary voters that she can think and talk policy on the same level as Campbell.

At the moment, the contrast between the two is stark. For example, when Fiorina signed a Club for Growth pledge to repeal Obamacare this week, Campbell released a treatise on the obstacles to a constitutional challenge. Perhaps this interview's greatest insight is that Fiorina is not yet playing on Campbell's policy level. Will that matter to California's GOP primary voters?

Click here to listen to the entire audio of the interview.

Scroll down to read excerpts. The interview involved discussion of the following topics:

Why She Should Be Elected to the Senate

How to Generate Jobs – Who to Blame For Econ Crisis – On the Bailouts - Bi-Partisanship and Obstructionism

Health Care Reform - Individual Health Care Mandate – How to Slow Growth of Medicare/Medicaid

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Fiorina on why she should be elected to the Senate:

“I’m not a professional politician. I’m a person who lived the American Dream [and] I also know [the American Dream] is perishable... We destroy [jobs] every day in this country through misguided policies from people like Barbara Boxer.”

Fiorina on how to generate jobs:

“Cut taxes first. Cut taxes...We could start with a payroll tax, we could start with the business tax rate… The tax rate is unbelievable, and when you add the California state taxes on top of the national taxes, it’s completely uncompetitive.”

“We have to fight for every job. And I use the term ‘fight’ very deliberately… they fight with a very specific package of benefits: lower taxes, faster access to credit, get you through the regulatory process in a hurry…”

“We need to be encouraging those industries that are by their nature innovative, so: clean green technology, biotech, high-tech, nuclear, energy production, space technology.”

Fiorina on whether the Bush administration’s policies can be blamed for the economic crisis:

“Sadly, I think there’s plenty of blame to go around. And I think, honestly, it is bipartisan blame that touches a whole bunch of parts of our economy.”

“It is hard to talk about the financial credit crisis without also acknowledging that the political agendas that were being played out by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had a huge amount to do with the current situation that we’re in.”

“It’s hard to talk about the current financial crisis without acknowledging that a whole set of industry players believed that computer models could manage risk for them, and stepped away from a hands-on approach to managing risk, and it got out of hand.

Fiorina on the 2008 bailouts:

“When everyone trained is saying, ‘the financial system is about to have a meltdown, we must do something’, I don’t think […] I would have been able to second-guess that.”

“I fault the bailout in two regards: one, there were no conditions attached, so the money went to the banks with no condition to lend it... The bailout didn’t do what it intended to accomplish. It didn’t achieve its goals.”

Fiorina on bipartisanship and obstructionism:

“I look forward to working with Senator Dianne Feinstein […] we must work together, we will work together...I’m not running against President Obama, I’m running against Barbara Boxer, a particularly failed senator.”

“No one in the Republican Party should […] waver from the determination to stay on [jobs and out-of-control spending]. And sometimes that means saying ‘no!’”

Fiorina on Health Care Reform:

“I support health care reform. I think every citizen needs access to quality, affordable health care... We have to focus on what we know works.”

“Let’s make sure that people who have pre-existing conditions can’t get thrown off plans.”

“Let’s provide coverage to those who are uninsured […] but, big “but”, 2,700 pages of the current bill, that costs $950 billion, that creates yet another entitlement when we can’t pay for the entitlements we have, that taxes for ten years – but we only see benefits for six years – in my opinion, that’s a non-starter.”

Fiorina on an individual health care mandate:

“I’m not in favor of an individual mandate. I think we need to make health insurance affordable, I think we need to make it accessible, I think we need to […] improve the competition.”

Fiorina on how to avoid moral hazard without an individual mandate:

“Education. People actually are not stupid. Most people if given enough information will make reasonable choices for themselves... That’s very different than the government mandating someone... I happen to be a conservative because I have faith in people.”

Fiorina on how to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid:

“One of the things that I talk a lot about […] is the need to actually get about the hard business of cutting spending...There have been multiple opportunities that the Senate has had to do some things with Medicare and Medicaid which they have failed to do.”

“Any bureaucracy […] that is unaccountable, that spends hundreds of billions of dollars and is not scrutinized on a regular basis is, by its nature, inefficient. Period.”

“We’ve got to get about having the conversation of […] ‘how do we know every dollar is spent well?’”