In defense of Meg Whitman

(CBS) - A lot of skeptics are commenting on Hewlett Packard's decision to appoint Meg Whitman as their new chief executive officer. More accurately, they doubt she can turn the struggling company around or if anyone can, for that matter.

Meg Whitman, the HP board's next blunder-in-waiting

The former eBay CEO ran a contentious race for governor in the state of California that left a dark cloud over her public image. Regardless of the skeletons that were exposed during the election or the enormous amount of money she wasted, Whitman is still moving forward. It takes gumption to overcome that type of embarrassment.

There's no doubt that Whitman has huge obstacles to overcome, but let's give the woman a chance. Only time will tell if she has the chops to turn HP around. We get it. HP is a hardware company struggling on the heels of a horrible recession and string of puzzling decisions, while Whitman's eBay was a startup in the midst of the dotcom boom. We wouldn't discount Whitman yet.

When Whitman became eBay's CEO in 1998, it had 30 employees and had $4 million in annual revenue. By the time she left in 2008, the company grew to 15,000 employees and $8 billion in annual revenue. That is still an accomplishment that few others can claim.

In a sea of naysayers reacting to Whitman's appointment as HP's CEO, we found a handful of Twitter users who had good things to say.

Do you think Whitman has what it takes to save HP, even though California turned her away?