Firing People is Very Presidential

COMMENTARY | When Mitt Romney stated that he "liked being able to fire people" the Democrats pounced, according to CNS News. But even Newt Gingrich, who has been pounding on Romney for being a heartless capitalist, sprung to his defense.

Romney was referring to the right of people to "fire" their insurance company if they fail to provide services promised and expected. Gingrich, of course, remembered that Romney was his rival for the presidency and suggested that the former Massachusetts governor could have worded his statement better.

On a larger issue, Ed Morrissey quotes a number of people in a Hot Air piece to the effect that the ability to fire people is something one looks for in a president, especially if one's goal is to shrink the size of government. After all, one cannot have smaller government if one cannot get rid of government bureaucrats.

Democrats would like to think that no one should be fired from his or her job, even though more people have lost their jobs during the presidency of Barack Obama than in many a year. Unfortunately firing people is part of running an organization effectively, whether it is a commercial company or a government.

Sometimes people cannot or will not perform and nothing can be done administratively to turn them around. Being fired for cause is one of the most unpleasant experiencing one can face. But it can also be a wakeup call, forcing the person being fired to turn their lives and careers around and in the end be a more employable person.

All too often, though, one loses ones job because the company one works for is not making as much money and is being forced to make cutbacks. Romney is being attacked by both Democrats and his Republican rivals for letting people go from companies he bought while he was at Bain Capital. But often times the choice was belt tightening and painful layoffs or allowing the company to collapse entirely, losing every job it supported.

The best way to avoid the effects of layoffs is to have a government with policies that foster economic growth and thus job creation. One suspects that Romney, the capitalist, would be better suited to create such policies than Obama, the socialist.

Source: Democrats Pounce on Romney's Comment About Firing People, Susan Jones, CNS News, Jan 10, 2011

Frum: Maybe we could use a President who knows how to fire people, Ed Morrissey, Hot Air, Jan 10, 2011