By Julie Jargon
Starbucks Corp. Chief Executive Howard Schultz has written an
opinion piece slamming the current slate of U.S. presidential
candidates from both parties, simultaneously calling attention to
and rebuffing the idea that he might run.
"Our country is in desperate need of servant leaders," Mr.
Schultz wrote in an article published in Thursday's edition of the
New York Times. He said the U.S. deserves "a candidate courageous
enough to select a member of the other party as a running mate,"
and "a president humble enough to see leadership not as an
entitlement but as a privilege."
He also poured cold water on the idea that he should run for
president. "Despite the encouragement of others, I have no
intention of entering the presidential fray," Mr. Schultz
added.
The Times essay is the latest example of the café magnate
thrusting himself and his company into the American political and
social debate. In recent years, Mr. Schultz has criticized the
general lack of affordable health-care in America, decried U.S.
political leaders for not doing enough to stimulate the economy and
rallied other business leaders to join him in calling politicians
to task.
He has also used his Starbucks's coffee shops as a conduit for
his social causes, providing donations from customers and employees
to fund community business lending, as well as making commitments
to hire veterans and young, low-income minorities.
Starbucks faced a particular backlash on social media earlier
this year after Mr. Schultz encouraged the chain's baristas to
engage customers about racial issues by writing "Race Together" on
coffee cups. As part of that campaign, Mr. Schultz announced plans
insert the company into latest racial hot spot at the time, by
saying a Starbucks would open in Ferguson, Mo., where protests
erupted last year after a police officer killed an unarmed
African-American man.
Rumors of political aspirations have swirled for years around
Mr. Schultz, who has written books about leadership and military
veterans. Still, the idea he might run in the 2016 race had gotten
relatively limited public attention, mainly from a recent mention
by New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd that unidentified friends
of Mr. Schultz had pressed him to join the Democratic primary.
Matt Bennett, co-founder of Third Way, a centrist Washington,
D.C., think tank, said it would be very hard for Mr. Schultz to
run, because he isn't widely known outside business circles.
"Schultz is not a household figure. Writing op-eds in the New
York Times is an elite form of communication; It's not the way
draft movements take flight," said Matt Bennett, who was
communications director for retired Army General Wesley Clark when
he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2004, after
a campaign to pull him into the race.
Mr. Schultz indicated he plans to continue funneling his
political and social ambitions through his company. "I'm not done
serving at Starbucks, " he said in his piece, adding "there is more
we can do as a public company to demonstrate responsible
leadership."
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com
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