Cain Needs To Grow Up
It may well be time for Herman Cain to grow up.
Somewhere, somehow, deep down, he knows his initial candidacy for President was a foregone waste of time. But his incurable optimism, his refusal to think like a jaded Beltway politician, and his reductio ad absurdum dismissals of critics, has elevated him to the very top of the polls. There is a real possibility that the more Mitt Romney talks, and the more Cain warms audiences with a smart joke, that Cain could win the nomination. If nothing else, Cain has an astounding ability to pull the carpet out from under the Mainstream Media like no other candidate. That wins him support every time he blows a dumb question back in their faces.
But given this, he must now acknowledge that he is no silly political gadfly. He could seriously be President in 2013, and he needs to realize this job is a bit more serious than making what most people seem to consider mediocre pizza.
The 9-9-9 plan was a gimmick, and by now there are no shortage of detractors pointing out it will raise taxes for a lot of middle class people, fail to produce useful revenues, and push us toward a universally unwanted VAT. Paul Ryan, and others, praise the plan for its enthusiastic and fresh thinking—not because it would really work. Rather than answer every question with 9-9-9, Cain should be tweaking his model and coming up with something better.
Worse, he seems incapable of answering a question on foreign policy. With the emphasis on the economy, there is great temptation to ignore foreign policy—but the Obama administration has repeatedly taught us how dangerous it is to treat this as a joke by their innumerable misadventures. Quick—name any American President elected from an economic crisis who wasn’t delivered a significant overseas issue. Cain, who has taken to answering every foreign policy question with a promise to look into it, needs to start answering some tough questions. He needs to command the American presence overseas, and he should not only start answering those questions, but better have a lot more ready than another catch phrase like 9-9-9-.
The Presidency is a deadly serious business, and we have tried and suffered the experiment of thinking otherwise in 2008. Cain needs to start catching up on his reading fast.
Unless of course he still thinks he’s a longshot.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.