[from billlifka - images added by Ira. (Neither Ira nor billlifka specifically endorse any candidate in this posting)]
At the moment, many of the national polls rank Herman Cain highest among those campaigning to become the Republican candidate for the presidency. It’s still two months before the earliest presidential primaries so the polls have questionable value. Nevertheless, Cain is so unusual, in comparison to the others, that his current popularity is amazing. He is different mainly in his not being a career politician and this may be a major reason for his appeal. There are other reasons.
Both of Cain’s parents are African-American. They were poor and worked hard to raise a family. The mother was a cleaning woman and the father was a janitor, barber and, eventually, chauffeur to the president of Coca Cola. Herman was educated in segregated schools. He received a B.S. from Morehouse College in Mathematics with a minor in physics. His Masters is in Computer Science from Purdue University. He holds eight honorary degrees from various universities.
Cain was a (civilian) ballistics analyst for the U.S. Navy. At Coca Cola, he worked his way up to become its top IT executive. Recruited by Pillsbury, he managed a 400 store Burger King region near Philadelphia from least to most profitable. Assigned CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, Pillsbury’s subsidiary, he improved its performance and led a leveraged buyout, continuing as its CEO. He was CEO of the National Restaurant Association. On behalf of that organization, he debated Bill Clinton on his Universal Healthcare Bill in a Kansas City town hall meeting; it was judged to be a Cain win. He served on the board of directors (and, later, its chairman) of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He has served on the boards of eight corporations and one bank. This is the man who Hillary Clinton demeaned as a pizza man. She remembers who spiked her health plan.
Cain has lived all over the country, because of his career. He’s been married for 43 years and has two children and three grandchildren. He was diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer, metastases in his liver. With a 30% survival prognosis, he underwent surgery and chemotherapy. After five years, he has remained cancer-free. He’s assistant pastor at his Baptist Church. He’s been a talk radio host and a syndicated columnist. Most people would admit this guy is pretty impressive.
The problem with Cain is he came late to the campaign party without an organization for fund raising and campaign operations. Without massive funding, a modern political campaign is at a huge disadvantage, perhaps hopelessly so. On the other hand, the Tea Party really likes him. The good news is the Tea Party has great influence. The bad news is it’s very loosely organized, also. Unless Cain shows up well in the early state primaries, he’s toast. That would be unfortunate; he is a good comparison to the other Republicans and would be an effective opponent to Obama.
As the currently leading Republican prospect, Cain is the target of most criticism. His 9-9-9 tax plan is torn apart by many in both political parties. No doubt some valid criticisms will emerge, eventually, but not so far. Arthur B. Laffer, a credible, well known economist, gives the plan high marks. Newt Gingrich, another prospective Republican Presidential Candidate praises Cain for his boldness in coming forth with a useful idea while others just carp about the situation. The other main criticism of Cain is lack of international experience. Cain believes America should name its friends and its enemies and treat its friends like friends. That’s refreshingly original.
billlifka
3 comments:
THANKS billifka for an outstanding summary of the amazing progress made by Herman Cain in his quest for the White House.
From my point of view, the best thing about his current high level of acceptance among likely GOP primary voters is where his support is coming from.
Most moderate Republicans, like me, are supporting Mitt Romney. So, most of Cain's support comes from the right-wing Tea Party faction who have (falsely) been accused of being old white racists. That fact "puts paid" to the racist allegation.
Yes, some in the Tea Party are indeed racist. There will always be some nuts in any large activist group. For example, a few Occupy Wall Street activists have an anti-semitic message, and others are openly Communist, etc., but they are the nutty outliers in a sincere -if misdirected- movement.
Ira Glickstein
PS: I still haven't washed the hand that shook Mitts back when he visited The Villages in 2008 :^)
It's a shame that someone like Herman Cain can expect this kind of treatment if he dares to run for political office. It's reminiscent of what was done to Clarence Thomas in his confirmation hearing about Anita Hill. His opening statement that he considered that the hearing was about punishing "an uppity nigger" was right on the money. In his biography Thomas recalls his grandfather saying that there are two kinds of racists: rattlesnakes and water moccasins. The rattlesnakes are preferable, because they warn you before striking. Joe Biden in his statement about the qualifications of "clean" Barack Obama demonstrated that he was a closet racist. Biden also scheduled the evidence against the veracity of Anita Hill at the very end of the hearings at an hour so late at night that only the most devoted watchers saw it. Herman Cain is just too black for either the Democrat or Republican establishment. Let's face the fact that despite the election of the beige Obama, the US has yet to demonstrate that a Black is electable.
Joel: I like Herman Cain but did not support him over my favorite, Mitt Romney (whose hand I shook when he spoke in The Villages back in 2008).
Cain's wonderful talk to supporters today was great to watch and I hope he is successful with his TheCainSolutions.com organization.
It seems to me that the liberal establishment pushes the mantra that blacks are equal and as good as anyone else, unless they get too uppity and try to succeed on their own and escape the grip of their benevolent masters at the Liberal Plantation.
As with Justice Clarence Thomas, the not so secret Liberal weapon is the idea that people like them are oversexed and under-controlled. (I hasten to add that people like them does not refer to their race at all, but to the fact of their success in the real competitive world.)
Ira Glickstein
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