The Cain Phenomenon

Gov. Chris Christie has dropped out of contention as a GOP presidential candidate. So has Sarah Palin. Fading swiftly is Michelle Bachmann and the others, leaving Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and to the astonishment of a lot of people, Herman Cain. What would astonish everyone would be a 2012 presidential race between a mulatto, Barack Obama who identifies with his African-American ancestry and ignores his white mother, and Herman Cain who rarely even refers to being a black American because it is increasingly irrelevant as people pay more and more attention to his message.

Cain would crush Obama. One gets the feeling that he got into the presidential race for that purpose. Obama’s appalling performance in the highest office has seen his polling numbers decline. Obama is likely to be identified as the “American Idol” candidate who went from the Illinois legislature to the U.S. Senate to the presidency in four years. He is a political aberration, the result of media manipulation, and very bad mistake. Terence P. Jeffrey, editor-in-chief of CNSnews.com, reported on Thursday, October 6, that “The Obama administration passed another fiscal milestone this week, according to new data released by the Treasury Department. As of the close of business on Oct. 3, the total national debt was $14,837,009,271,196.71—up about $44.8 billion from Sept. 30.”

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“That means that in the less-than-three-years Obama has been in office, the federal debt has increased by $.212 trillion accumulated by all 41 U.S. presidents from George Washington through G.H.W. Bush combined.” Herman Cain is all about fiscal sanity. Herman Cain is about capitalism. Barack Obama is a Marxist. Cain’s message is beginning to resonate in Republican circles, especially among those who identify with the Tea Party movement. This is not to say we can rule out Mitt Romney’s candidacy, though it is increasing clear that Texas Gov. Rick Perry is beginning to sound warning bells in the minds of many Republicans as his charm and bravado begins to thin in the wake of his poor debate performances and his unsteady responses to questions reporters pose. Daniel Henninger, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, writing on September 29th, gave a brief précis of Cain’s resume in the world of business, asking “Does a resume like Herman Cain’s add up to an American presidency? I used to think not. But watching the American Idol system we’ve fallen into for discovering a president—with opinion polls, tongue slips and media caprice deciding front-runners and even presidents—I’m rewriting my presidential-election software.” Henninger concluded that “Herman Can is a credible candidate. Whether he deserves to be president is something voters will decide. But he deserves a serious look.” It is a long time between now and November 6, 2012, but I think Republican and, should he get the nomination, American voters, are going to giving Herman Cain a very serious look. If Cain is elected, it will mean that a nation that fought a Civil War over slavery and waited another hundred years to finally confer full Constitutional rights to African-Americans will confound themselves and the entire world by putting Cain in the Oval Office. I am not counting out Mitt Romney at this early point. He has become a very good campaigner. He’s refined his message, he is charming, and he “looks” like the Hollywood version of a president. He’s also a RINO, a very moderate candidate at a point in current history when the nation needs and wants radical change if it is to avert the deliberate destruction imposed on it by Barack Obama. Herman Cain’s website offers his “999 Plan” and it is worth reading because it represents all the steps that must be taken to take American back from the brink of bankruptcy, from massive unemployment, and a thorough understanding of how to achieve that. The primaries that lie ahead—Florida would vote next week if it could, followed by all the other states—will be the final determination of who will be the GOP’s presidential candidate. There’s plenty of time left for the fortunes of candidates to shift, but like Daniel Henninger, I am giving Herman Cain a serious look. © Alan Caruba, 2011