An interesting reality struck me as I was flipping through the news this week.
Herman Cain, a self proclaimed "dark horse" candidate, is a legitimate contender for the Republican primary election. At least for now. He hasn’t been in the national spotlight enough just yet to have his dirty laundry, whatever it may be, strewn across the national lawn.
As it stands today, I think that the name and image of what Herman Cain is to the GOP voters is beginning to gain some serious momentum.
What originally sparked my interest in Cain was a poll published by Fox News, which has Cain in a close third to GOP hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Perry respectively. I also saw that in a daily straw poll, taken by Fox News (I swear I watch other news) that had Cain as the frontrunner in the Republican primary.
Now, I don’t know about you, but before this election cycle began I had no idea who on earth Herman Cain was. And when I first heard his name thrown in the ring with all of the other GOP candidates, I never dreamed that his entrance into the presidential race would be such a serious one.
Will he be more than a flash in the proverbial presidential pan? I’m not sure. But I do think that it is important to tell people some about Mr. Cain, because if you are anything like I was, you know little to nothing about him.
So, where did Herman Cain come from, and what makes him think that he would be able to run this country successfully?
Cain was raised in Atlanta in a two-parent home, where he claims to have learned the value of hard work from his parents, which is proved throughout his life’s body of work so far. He earned his Masters in computer science from Purdue in 1971, while simultaneously working full-time in ballistics for the U.S. Department of the Navy, where he was responsible for developing weapons control systems for both ships and fighter planes.
He went on to work for Coca-Cola and then on to Pillsbury, where he managed 400 Burger King locations, and was later put in charge of all of Godfathers Pizza (both Burger King and Godfathers were Pillsbury subsidiaries). He used masterful business skill to bring Godfathers from the red to the black, and retired from his CEO position at the pizza giants in 1996 to take up the CEO position of the National Restaurant Association, a trade and lobby group. He has been on the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, as well as Aquila, Inc, Nabisco, Whirlpool, Reader’s Digest, and AGCO.
He went on from his illustrious business career to become a commentator on Fox Business, as well as writing a syndicated op-ed column that is widely distributed, and hosting his own Atlanta radio talk show.
A very impressive resume indeed. The more I learn, the more I’m impressed. At least so far.
Now on to Cain’s politics.
He has been involved in politics for a while, known as one of the leading opponents to President Bill Clinton’s healthcare plan, serving as an adviser on the Dole/Kemp campaign in 1996, briefly running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000 and running for one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats in 2004.
---Check here to see his campaign’s views on the major issues at hand for the election.
Needless to say, he seems to be a hard working man from a hard-working family. He has uncanny business smarts, and has had success everywhere that he’s been from a monetary standpoint. He has experience in politics, all of which leads him toward making a strong push for the GOP nomination.
In my post about the American Dream I boldly stated that I thought President Obama is a perfect picture of the American Dream lived out to it’s fullest. I was wrong. Herman Cain’s life story looks just about as American Dream-ish as I can imagine. Sorry Obama, you’ve been replaced on my American Dream totem pole. Now we will have to wait and see if the American public continues the infatuation with Cain. If it does, he will have the chance to go toe-to-toe with Obama, in what would likely be the most famous election in the history of the United States of America.
