Herman Cain is surging in the polls and gaining the attention of more Americans, perhaps even garnering vaunted "first tier candidate" status.
And why not? He's a brilliant, articulate man with executive experience. He knows how to lead and manage and he has the successful track record to back it up.
Fred Barnes has written a thumbnail sketch profile of Herman Cain based upon his review of Cain's autobio: This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House. Barnes' article, Raising Cain, is well worth five minutes of your time. He compares and contrasts Cain's background with that of the current White House occupant.
Unlike Obama, Cain's upbringing was stereotypically American and one shared by millions of blacks in this country. Both parents worked, his father had three jobs, they were discriminated against, and they went to Church on Sunday. Despite the hardships, Herman's parents taught him to love his country, love his fellow man, and to work hard and believe in himself.
This particular paragraph in Barnes' article stopped me in my tracks...
His upbringing may explain his gift for delivering a conservative message with a friendly face, as Ronald Reagan did. “I also like to smile, laugh, and have fun with people,” he says.Of all the candidates in the field, Cain is perhaps the most Reaganesque. Folksy and eternally sunny, he has a talent for delivering a serious message with a smile and good humor. You can just tell he has a love and respect for his fellow man, and that he enjoys the give and take of the campaign trail. He has a lifetime of experience and he has spent years writing and talking about the great issues facing America.
Herman Cain could once again put a friendly face on American conservatism.
57 comments:
Great post! The more I see and listen to Mr. Cain, the more I like him. There's something down-to-earth about him that I respond to, and you're right his sunny disposition and love for America are certainly reminiscent of President Reagan.
It really wonderful to listen to him (and Colonel West and Chris Christie) speaking about America with pride and assured of our promise and future. THAT is what being an American president requires.
I've order his book and am looking forward to getting it (no kindle, so the old-fashioned books with pages for me).
He's got ideas, and he has presence and a sense of authority without being small about it. Did you see the vid of him facing off against then-President Clinton over HillaryCare? Statesmanlike. He spoke to the president as an equal, as he should. I also like that he won't owe anyone a damn thing when he wins. No lobbyists, no Wall Street, no unions, no nothing. Just we, the people. I'm hoping his campaign pulls itself together and puts up a money bomb. We can all donate to him then! Yay!
This man is more than capable of being our president.
[one day I'll learn to type more slowly and/or proofread. One day. Maybe.]
He has that way of speaking that comes off natural, sincere and unrehearsed.
His one downfall is that he is prone to say things inartfully or as this past weekend with the Perry hunting camp, speak before having all the facts. Nowhere near Joe Biden's level of gaff-o-matic verbal diarrhea, but still troubling.
True, but he's a quick study. If he hadn't improved significantly in this area already, I'd have a hard time supporting him. Let alone enthusiastically. He'll keep getting better and will be amazing by the time he faces BO. Perry and Romney are going to start attacking him now that he's (effectively) the front runner, so he'll get lots of experience. ;)
At first, I thought that Herman Cain was the GOP's affirmative-action candidate, even if not formally so.
I've changed my mind.
Oh, I know that he's not the perfect candidate. Well, neither was Reagan.
But I think we've reached or nearly reached the 1980 tipping point.
The man let himself be used to race-bait Rick Perry on Camp Niggerhead. Sorry, but I've lost a LOT of respect for him as a consequence. Then he starts apologizing for not sticking up for a gay soldier being booed for asking a DADT implementation question. The soldier SHOULD have been booed... the uniform is no grant of "immunity" from criticism for stupidity.
Maybe he'll get elected and give you suckers a nice big tax increase just like St. Ronnie Raygun.
Maybe he'll bend over and show his ass to terrorists just like Raygun.
What's going to be Herman's iran-Contra?
Right wing bed wetters deserve another Raygun. Herman could preside over another massive upward wealth transfer and bankrupt a couple of you suckers.
Herman is the Real Deal.
... will folks be screaming as loudly when Herman raises the deficit as much as Saint Ronnie Raygun did?
Of course at least Herman won't be borrowing at 12% like the idiot Raygun.
You suckers deserve Hermn.
Absolute Marxist:
Cain did not race bait. He did not call Perry a racist. He said the name was insensitive. I still don't like that he bought into the liberal press agenda, though.
Hopefully he'll learn from it.
Your shtick is threadbare, Ducky.
We know you'd like to install a socialist dictatorship and be done with it, but it ain't gonna happen, regardless of what the tinfoil hat brigade says.
We live in an imperfect world full of imperfect people. Anything and everyone is open to criticism. It is more useful to compare.
Reagan was a quantum leap improvement over Carter.
Arms for hostages was your kind of guy, Silverfiddle?
You enjoyed the increased taxes?
Just what did you like about him? Able-Archer when he nearly got into a shooting scrape with Russia?
Or magic missile maybe.
I've told you why I think the man was just a stooge for corporatists, what did you like about him?
I was not working age at the time, but people who were can attest the times were better under Reagan and Clinton than they were under the malaise of Nixon/Ford/Carter.
By your definition, every politician other than Kucinich and Sanders is a corporate stooge, and neither of them are running for president.
While I like Herman Cain he doesn't have any experience in politics. That could work against him if he is elected.
I like Cain for all the reasons you laid out. What worries me is Cain past with and his support for the Federal Reserve. IMO, if we are to turn this country around, the Fed has to go and we need a sound currency. I don't know that Cain will see it that way.
Right wing bed wetters deserve another Raygun. Herman could preside over another massive upward wealth transfer and bankrupt a couple of you suckers.
#OCCUPYANYTHING
#TOTHEBARRICADES
#RoNNiERaYGuNROnNiERaYgUn
#MORECHEETOS
Your schtick has a permanent skip in it. Guess you're not too fond of the 80's, huh?
Sorry I couldn't redistribute some income to you. Should have let me know.
On a positive note, I had a blast.
I like Cain. Let's hope he can learn how to handle a hostile media that doesn't come at the expense of his fellow conservatives. It's not enough for him to learn how to save his own skin. If he can master that, he's 9/10th's of the way into the White House.
There are some things about Cain's past that may not sit well with the conservative grassroots. Like the way he fought for the business meals deduction, or his position on affirmative action, or his position in the Fed.
None of these are killers though. The grassroots are pretty flexible, despite the over-the-top rhetoric. Wall Street support is the key, and they seem okay with him so far.
He's not very articulate on the stump, though. He's really not. Repeating "999" over and over, or occasionally throwing out a pun, is not a display of rhetorical prowess. They say in person he's quite impressive, though.
He's interesting, I'll give him that. Unlike Reagan, though, Cain has no governing experience. The fact of the matter is that business and gov't really are two completely different things. Cain can't just lay-off half the gov't to make it more profitable. None of that even makes sense. Gov't doesn't exist to make a profit, and what people want from gov't is what they want, period. You can't just change locations or menus.
We shall see...
JMJ
Infidel de Manahatta said...
While I like Herman Cain he doesn't have any experience in politics. That could work against him if he is elected.
Possibly, but that's what I find most attractive about him.
JMJ said: Gov't doesn't exist to make a profit,
True.
and what people want from gov't is what they want, period.
...and therein lies a lots of our problems. I want nothing from and I ask nothing of government, except to do only those things it is specifically to do, under the Constitution. That's it.
"Ask not what government...(..)"
Fuzzy Slippers said...
Great post! The more I see and listen to Mr. Cain, the more I like him. There's something down-to-earth about him that I respond to, and you're right his sunny disposition and love for America are certainly reminiscent of President Reagan.
I agree, Fuzzy. There is a lot to like about Herman Cain. If his major negative is inexperience in government, I'll consider that a bonus. The blamestream media is going to tie itself in knots attacking him.
"Unlike Reagan, though, Cain has no governing experience."
Well good. We're not looking for governing experience since it hasn't been working out all that well.
We'll take someone who has 'executive' experience, unlike what's sitting in the Whitehouse right now.
>Unlike Reagan, though, Cain has no governing experience.
On the other hand, unlike Obama, Cain has, well, experience.
" ... business and gov't really are two completely different things."
Not so much anymore since International Industrialists, Wall Street Tycoons, International Bankers and Government have merged in an unholy alliance against the interests of individual citizens.
Wall Street isn't really Wall Street anymore. Either it has merged with the government or the government has merged with it -- I'm not sure which. And does it matter anyway?
I agree with those who fin Herman Cain's lack of experience in politics attractive and engaging. We need to return politics to part-time amateur status and phase out the entire class of professional, lifetime politicians many of whim have had no experience in the real world where money must be EARNED and not merely STOLEN from taxpaying citizens if one expects to stay in business.
Reuben, Rachel, I've been thinking
What a grand world this would be,
If all government officials
Drowned out in the deep blue sea.
Rachel, Reuben, even better,
We'd have such a lovely time,
If select assassinations
Were no longer thought a crime!
~ FreeThinke
I don't know what I like most about Cain.
His support for the gold standard
or
his complete disregard for the 1st Amendment.
Since Baggers don't really care about anything but the 2nd and the 10th, I can understand why his religious bigotry is no problem for you but do you really want the financial chaos a return to the gold standard would cause.
The 9-9-9 plan is dead on arrival.
So what's the appeal of this guy?
By your definition, every politician other than Kucinich and Sanders is a corporate stooge
--------
No, there are a few others but you're getting the point.
Now if a coalition forms from the occupy wall street move we may start to understand that we are all owned by the same force and our so called politicians aren't going to resolve the mess.
98ZJUSMC,
Given your moniker, I assume you do want something from gov't - like a paycheck.
Mark, Bastiat and FT,
The trouble with Cain is that his only experience with gov't, if you can call it that, is his time with the Federal Reserve, something that should turn you guys completely off.
More importantly, though, given today's world, and the complex and dynamic role the US plays in it, we certainly do not want an "amateur" in the Oval Office. Say what you want about Obama, but he is a constitutional scholar and has shown to be a competent and able "Leader of the Free World." Cain would really be a toss-up when it comes to that.
JMJ
Bastiatarian said: >Unlike Reagan, though, Cain has no governing experience.
On the other hand, unlike Obama, Cain has, well, experience.
And that's a big plus for Cain.
@ Jersey: we certainly do not want an "amateur" in the Oval Office.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! We've got one there now. Even after 2 1/2 years, he's still an incompetent stumblebum.
Say what you want about Obama, but he is a constitutional scholar and has shown to be a competent and able "Leader of the Free World."
Wrong again. He is not a constitutional scholar. He was a college lecturer, not even a professor. He has done no scholarly research, produced no scholarly work or papers. He is not a scholar.
What evidence can you produce that this utter failure and global laughing stock is a "competent and able leader of the free world?"
Man, Jersey, every time it seems you are starting to make some sense, you go and blow it with moonbat coo coo for coco puffs stuff like this...
Far as i'm concerned, Cain is definitely better than the current fool of a community organizer in charge, and by a long shot.
Heck even liberals morons are beginning to admit they were fooled into believing he could handle it. Mind you they'll definitely be ass-kissing and boot-licking when the election rolls around. America be damned, they hate conservatives more.
Can't wait till some of you suckers get a dose of 9-9-9.
No personal deduction, no medical deductions, no mortgage interest deductions plus a 9% sales tax on top of whatever your state sales tax is.
The 9% is applied to food, clothing ... across the board.
So your effective tax rate is up as Herman shifts more on the working class.
Like I say, I'm perverse enough to hope you fools get what you ask for.
9% on food, you're gonna love it.
Silver,
WTF, man. Can't you just admit, once in a while, that Obama is not some insipid schmuck? The country has been secure and stable, even though we've been in the muck for years now. Obama, like Clinton before him, has floated the boat of state through a bad storm. Unfortunately, that's not enough.
Yes, we have some terrible problems these days, but the government is functioning as reasonably well as ever. That might not be saying much, to you or me, but when you consider the size and scope of the friggin' American empire, you should damned well be fucking thankful that we have AT LEAST a competent fucking president.
Who do you guys have to offer?
At least offer fucking competence. Cain? Cain??? Really? That Federal Reserve, cheap labor, private equity hero, idiot, moron, soulless goofball Cain???
Romney's the only guy out of all your preferences who would be at least as FUCKING COMPETENT as Obama.
Again, say what you will, but the nation is running along just fine. Obama is at least a fair president. If anything, Obama is the least of our problems. Those kids marchin' around Wall Street lately - they have found the worst of our problems.
JMJ
Better get used to him, Jersey.
The pole dancer just made it official, she ain't running.
It's Romney or The Pizza Man and you know how the Baggers feel about Romney ...
Wow, the most ridiculous post in a while. Well...since yesterday, lol! Reagan would be appalled by the conduct and beliefs of today's GOP and likewise, they'd label him as a radical liberal.
Mr. Cain's apparently strong ties to the Federal Reserve are a huge black mark against him -- for me. The Fed is one of most potent enemies. Also his platform manner is too reminiscent of an old-time Tent Revival preacher for my tastes --- but no candidate is perfect. I do find him engaging and refreshing
Mitt is decent enough, but seems flat, wooden, dispassionate, unconvincing -- committed only to winning not to any potentially curative agenda.
Rick Perry has proved himself to be a dullard -- about as sharp as a mushroom in debate. It's time for the RNC to usher him quietly and politely out the door.
Bachmann is strident. Her delivery is monotonous, and she has an embarrassingly effeminate husband with too much public interest in homosexuality, even if he does claim to be able to "cure" it. [Talk about tosh, tarradiddle, stuff, nonsense, bullshit, baloney! and horsefeathers! WOO HOO!!]
Newt -- as someone wrote of Giuliani a few months ago -- too closely resembles an old wedding cake. It's all too clear his day is past. Besides, he has a plethora of powerful liberal friends with whom he's much too cozy, and has shown himself too many times to be anything-but a committed conservative. I think he's a New-World-Orderist- Bohemian-Grove type, myself.
Rick Santorum is sweet, kind, decent, and sincere, but but he's an obvious lightweight who's intellectually-challenged. [Absolutism on Right-to-Life issues GUARANTEES electoral loss, as does overt condemnation of homosexuality.]
Ron Paul is too old, too eccentric, too pointedly controversial, a bit schizoid, and frankly his thinking has too much depth ever to reach the "average" voter. Besides, Dr. Paul has been tarred with the brush of anti-Semitism. [It's not true, of course, but when certain quarters get down on you, you might as well fold your tent, pack up your belongings, put your tail between your legs, keep your head down, grit your teeth and head for home -- if they haven't yet burned it down.] Charges of anti-Semitism are like charges of Date-Rape or Child-Molestation. They don't have to be true to ruin you. You're as good as dead once such an accusation has been made -- thanks to leftist political activism of the Betty Friedanesque variety.
Who are the other Republican hopefuls? Gary Johnson? YAGOTTABEE KIDDING!!! I believe it says more about the unimpressive nature of the other candidates, if such there be, than it does about my aging memory.
So, where-of-where is The Knight in Shining Armor -- the Superman -- the Siegfried with BRAINS, a HEART, and a CONSCIENCE -- who could lead us out of this wilderness and back to "our" PROMISED LAND (as opposed to "the" Promised Land)?
Probably pulling levers behind a curtain in The LAND of OZ.
Wheeze in TRUBBLE, Pappy!
~ FreeThinke
Always glad to have Reagan scholar Bd chime in...
Jersey,
When someone send f-bombs instead of coherent rebuttals, you know they've lost the debate.
Obama is not a scholar.
Obama has yet to show he's competent at anything other than shutting down airline manufacturers, raiding guitar makers (which really pisses me off because I looooove guitars), and arming Mexican drug gangs, which he and Holder should be breaking big rocks into little rocks.
Yeah, George Bush ran the car into the ditch. Obama threw a lit match in the gas tank and blew the damned thing up.
FT~ I lived in NM when Gary Johnson was governor. What exactly do you think is wrong with him?
Jersey said "nation is running along just fine".
Oh god stop, my sides hurt I'm laughing so hard.
Cheers!
Silver, you are a smart guy. Why do you think it is a good idea to replace a guy who is bought off by the BIS system, with a former unrepentant member of that system.
I can understand why a lot of people like Cain, he says all the right things, so does any snake oil salesman. The fact is he is one of them and as such, he is an enemy to the constitution.
Say what you want about Obama, but he is a constitutional scholar and has shown to be a competent and able "Leader of the Free World."
Wh-wh-what?!?!?
ppffftt. Oh-kay....nine out of ten #OCCUPYTACOBELL protesters probably agree with you.....if they knew what they were protesting about......today?
Last week?
Next Tuesday?
Given your moniker, I assume you do want something from gov't - like a paycheck.
Weakest dodge in the book.
But feel free to try again.
>Can't you just admit, once in a while, that Obama is not some insipid schmuck?
The problem is that Obama is, in very word and deed, an insipid schmuck. He's an intellectual lightweight (and that's giving him more than he deserves) who, even after almost three years in office, is still thoroughly unqualified to be in any administrative or leadership position whatsoever. If we lived in a reward in which only merit was rewarded, Obama would have a severely overdrawn account.
" I lived in NM when Gary Johnson was governor. What exactly do you think is wrong with him?"
It's a visceral response to what little I've seen of him. Doesn't seem like a truly serious guy from his platform manner -- a little too casual, laid back, "hip," ultra-modern, socially liberal for my taste.
He might have been wonderful as Governor of New Mexico, but he just doesn't impress me as having enough dignity and moral weight to be our president.
As I've said so often, TV gives the voters almost all they have to go on. Too bad it's rarely anything much but fleeting impressions of personality, background, style, taste and showmanship.
What do you think of him, Finntann? Would he make a good president in your estimation? I doubt if he could be elected frankly,
Tim Pawlenty might have made a very good president, but his bland, dull personality makes him unelectable in our culture.
~ FreeThinke
Jersey said "nation is running along just fine".
Alright, now I'm doubled over laughing, too.
Appreciate the levity, though. Gotta laugh at something when a bunch of retarded anarchists are
#OCCUPYINGMYVEGETABLECRISPER.
Jersey:
"The trouble with Cain is that his only experience with gov't, if you can call it that, is his time with the Federal Reserve"
So we go from no governing experience, to a 1 year term at the Federal Reserve of KC, when I pointed to his executive experience.
Way to change the dynamics of the subject.
"constitutional scholar" who has learned to circumvent it. He doesn't stand by it except to abuse the 16th amendment.
Cain however embarrasses it. THATS why he is a favorite of the Tea Party.
Amateur is what Obama truly is. This nation promoted a mailroom clerk to a CEO of a multi-conglomerate.
Trestin: I know you're a Paul guy. More power to you, but even a president Paul could not wave a magic wand.
He has subpoena power right now, why doesn't he use it to investigate the FED?
I'm looking at all the factors, the complete package.
I'm not so much a Paul guy as am anti Fed, Paul just happens to be the most anti Fed candidate.
Seriously, how can you justify Cains connection and support of the source of most of our problems? I don't get it.
The best way I can explain it is that I am an Austrian as well, but I don't automatically cross every non-Austrian off my list. We've been living with this system a long time, and a lot of otherwise good people have bought into it.
As much as I'd like to see it, ending the Fed is a pipe dream until somebody big can start explaining what a post-Fed US looks like so that people who normally don't deal with this stuff can understand it.
I will be honest and also say that it disturbs me that a good measure of Paul support is from dope smoking pacifists who don't really understand Paul's underlying philosophy.
Half of them would probably forget when election day is and fail to show up at the polls.
That he is a neo-nazi magnet also disturbs me, although I have seen no evidence that he is racist or anti-Semitic.
It's a flawed world we live in, full of flawed people.
Johnson is the classical Libertarian, fiscally conservative, socially liberal.
Elected twice as a Republican in a state that is 2:1 Democrat, he gave us 8 years of balanced budgets. When he left office the state had a billion dollar surplus.
While reducing the state budget he raised education funding by 33%... when that didn't work to improve the schools he switched support to a voucher program.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Gary_Johnson
http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/issues
I'd vote for him.
Cheers
SilverFiddle,
Do you blame the candle when moths, fatally attracted to its light it incinerate themselves trying to get near the flame?
Ron Paul is not TRYING to attract dangerous lunatics. He is trying to make America aware of true nature of what she once had -- and what she has been recklessly throwing away with both hands, since the advent of "Progressivism." What knaves and fools may choose to make of Dr. Paul's aims and motives is no reflection on Dr. Paul's character.
I am one of those rare individuals who do not believe the Civil War was in any way necessary, right or good. That does not, however, make me a believer in or a supporter of slavery.
I don't believe in judicial activism either, but that doesn't mean I hate Negroes and would like them to have remained at a subservient disadvantage. I merely resent and disapprove of the way the Civil Rights Movement was conducted.
In a nutshell, I despise W.E.B. Dubois, but love and admire Booker T. Washington.
I also find alcoholism horrifying and repugnant, but that does not mean I would like to see a return of Prohibition.
I'm sure you get the point I'm trying rather clumsily to make?
How could I or anyone else be held responsible for the misunderstanding others may have of my motives?
~ FreeThinke
Ya' know, you geniuses, back through our history, when the economy took turns like it has recently, there were riots, and social movements, and sometimes violent discontent. The very programs you guys hate - SS, Medicare, unemployment, food stamps - keep the line between the masses and your stupid necks. Don't forget that.
JMJ
I hear you on his supporters.
Hear is the deal, we are not on verge of a bad depression, we are on the verge of total collapse, it may already be too late. We can not afford another Keynesian in the White House and certainly can not allow one who has loyalties to the Fed. It is the source of our debt, it is the source of what will be a dollar collapse if we elect another Keynesian.
It does not need to be Paul, I'll take Michelle Bachmann or anyone who will stand up to the Fed. Cain will continue Keynesian policies, which will destroy this country and possibly conservatism for generations.
Yeah, a Christian theocrat with a degree from Oral Roberts... exactly what we need.
I see the Fed as a piece of the problem, not the source.
They are carrying out monetarist policies ostensibly at the behest of the US government, who is the true source of the problem, because they have abandoned common sense economic policies and have been scared by the banking cartel into sitting down and shutting up.
Those latte leftists marching on wall street should really be marching on DC.
FreeThinke: I share much of the sentiment expressed in you last post.
I am not impugning Dr Paul's character, nor am I imputing to him the qualities of his unstable supporters.
You also touch upon what almost got Rand Paul in trouble, and that is discussing the conundrum of resolving the civil rights issue by violating the constitutional rights of property owners. Same with the Civil War, but here we are, right here, right now.
Herman is looking better every day.
" ... here we are, right here, right now."
I'd never be so naive and fuzzy-headed as to deny hat, SilverFiddle. However, I refer so frequently to the past not to attempt to dwell there, but because I believe, as Santayana and many others have said, if we fail to remember -- and learn from -- the past, we will continue to make the same stupid mistakes over and over again.
I think we need to see those grave errors in judgment for what they were in the hope our own powers of perception and ability to make good decisions improves accordingly.
Just as man cannot live by bread alone neither can he live only by facts and figures. The cost in human suffering and the potential reward for better quality of life for larger numbers of individuals should be factored into every policy making decision.
The purely utilitarian approach, which sees the great mass of humanity as cogs in a machine or mere aids in achieving mammoth goals, is morally untenable -- at least to me.
Any policy that thwarts the inherent right of self-determination -- no matter how much "good" it's supposed to achieve for "all" -- should be shunned, avoided and condemned. And yes, I'm aware that's a hopelessly idealistic position, but we must aim in that direction if we hope to avoid monstrously inhumane "solutions" to social problems.
~ FreeThinke
Jersey McJones said...
There are some things about Cain's past that may not sit well with the conservative grassroots.
Kind of like what the Libs thought when they voted for Obama after KNOWING about HIS past?
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