Fiorina defends Uber, Airbnb

Carly Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO and a potential GOP presidential candidate, said Monday that big businesses are conspiring against car service upstart Uber.

Fiorina accused established businesses of lobbying regulators to stifle emerging Silicon Valley firms.

“Big companies are getting together with regulators to try and make their entrance into the market place harder,” Fiorina said at a forum in Washington hosted by the Center For Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) Smart Women Smart Power program. 

{mosads}Fiorina praised companies like Uber and Airbnb for creating “the kind of disruption we want.”

“Government shouldn’t be used to crush competition, and that’s actually what’s happening,” she added.

Fiorina also defended her tenure leading Hewlett-Packard.

She said her ouster from the company in 2005 would “probably not” hurt her in a campaign if she is able to explain her tenure to voters.

Fiorina said she didn’t expect the media attention that came along with being the first woman to lead a Fortune 50 business. She expected the media to focus on her plans for the company, which at the time was nicknamed the “Grey Lady of Silicon Valley.”

“Instead it was, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re a woman,’ ” Fiorina said. “It caught me completely off guard.”

Fiorina on Monday addressed a number of issues, including foreign policy.

She said she does not support deploying U.S. boots on the ground in Syria, saying it would be “counter productive.”

“We’re not working effectively with any of our allies, and to say that the only thing we can do is go off to the war isn’t true,” Fiorina said.

She also said that she would not have supported the Iraq War.

“Knowing what we know now? Of course not,” she said.

“Leadership is about two things,” Fiorina added. “[It’s] about unlocking potential in others … and it’s about change the order of things for the better. … If you lead, you will make enemies; it’s the nature of leadership.”

Fiorina has said there’s a 90 percent chance she’ll run for president and plans to make an announcement in the next month.