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.
Cain's story is great. It's his quotations that I disagree with. The one's about Muslims requiring some extra level of patriotic tests seemed covertly Islamophobic. He is not knowledgeable on basic foreign policy and domestic issues. (Right to return, "I do not have any facts to back this up...") Another quotation that I enjoy from him was regarding the protestors on wall street. Right off the bat I should say that I don't think they(protestors) are coherent or make any sense really. Saying that, I don't think that poor people should be blamed for not having money or jobs. It is not their fault always. People's employment and how much money they have in life are not markers of success. Our society deems wealthy folks successful and that's fine, but there are brilliant people who have no money, and lucky people who have tons. Either way, there are more factors at play than their personal responsibility. Right?
ReplyDeleteAlso his 9-9-9 plan is economically a joke.
ReplyDeleteThis was quite the prophetic post.
ReplyDeleteCain is now facing sexual harrassment questions from his time as the leader of the National Restaurant Association.
It makes me wonder, do political opponents have this information and then choose the perfect time to release it?
Cain was surging in the polls, he was leading Mitt Romney (somebody everyone seems to dislike) and looked like he would make a legitimate push for the Republican presidential nomination.
Then, right as he was soaring high, a few rumors cascade into a wildfire.
The frustrating thing is Cain could have taken his desire to be honest about his inexperience and applied it to this situation. He could have came out and said, "Yes, this was an issue 15 years ago. I will not shy away from it because I refuse to lie to the American people about my past or my objectives."
Everyone hates politicians because we all know they lie. Hell, the First Amendment and their status as politicians ALLOWS them to lie without repercussion (unless that lie is told under oath or becomes damaging to others rights). Herman Cain had an opportunity to take the honest stance (which doesn't always work out for everyone) and own up.
Now? He looks like a fool. He denied, denied and denied until he couldn't deny anymore. Then he started slowly unraveling. Now the -- what I will call the penultimate moment before ultimate defeat -- has happened. The New York Times reported he did settle for a year's salary, which is about 9 months longer than he admitted on the News networks.
Do you think politicians should be honest about their dirty laundry? Is it possible to take a fault, and turn it against the opposition? History says no, but if I was a campaign manager, maybe that's the stance I would take. (Unless the dude murdered someone, then I"m out)
See Chase, I tend to agree with you that politicians should own up to their dirty laundry. So many times in the political realm and just in life in general, people choose to judge politicians or professional athletes based on what they've done in the past (often something sexual or something stupid done in college) that the majority of the population of the world has or will have done in their lives.
ReplyDeleteWhich is stupid.
So I definitely agree that he should have just admitted to his past transgressions and tried to move on with it. Now he has killed his momentum and is sliding back down the hill he was once scaling at an amazing pace.
Would being honest have helped in the long run? Who knows. But for my vote it definitely would've helped.