Herman Cain Scares Me

 

My approach to politics hasn’t been blindly loyal since I was a schoolgirl parroting the words I heard my parents and grandparents spouting at supper.  Back then, I sounded like a dumbed-down version of the lackluster array of people vying for a spot on the 2012 Presidential ballot.  Catch words, buzz words, and campaign button rhetoric were about the only things I could say because I didn’t understand what the hell was going on.

Somehow I developed the ability to actually think for myself over the years, so I spend a good deal of time studying what all sides of an issue are saying and doing, so as not to be caught by surprise by an idea that might just make some sense.  And that’s why I tuned in to the Sunday morning talk shows this past weekend knowing full well all the guests were going to be Republican presidential wannabes.

The startling surge in popularity of former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain is curious to me on so many levels, I was determined to hear him out and try to get a glimpse of what makes him tick.  It wasn’t all that difficult to find him – Cain appeared on everything from The View and Jay Leno, to Meet the Press and the Daily Show in a week’s time.

I have come away with that vague but nagging flutter in the pit of my stomach.  I have to tell you – the man is scaring me.  Here’s why:

Nobody seems to care he is black.  Not once have I heard the subject broached in an interview.  While you might think that would be reason for me to rejoice, given my well-documented desire to reach a time in this country when such an observation would be ridiculous, it is making me suspicious.  Would the Republicans even be capable of understanding they could neutralize the whole race issue by pitting one black man against another?  It could work.

The man is smooth.  And I don’t mean slick or smarmy.   His Southern accent flavors a speech delivered without spaces or space fillers.  He knows what he means and he says it without any signs of being guarded or cautious.  When it serves him – and it frequently does – he flashes a smile rivaling that of the current POTUS, with similar, disarming results.  In short, he is a charmer.

He is smart and he flaunts it.  To date I have not seen an attempt on Cain’s part to project an I’m-one-of-the-guys persona.  On the contrary, he comports himself like the CEO that he was and speaks with executive confidence.  And he rattles off statistics and mathematical calculations at warp speed, but on a level many, if not most, of us can understand.

He is as conservative as they come. No sign of victimhood here.  He is a self-made man who was born with all the same strikes against him as any other poor, black child, and he’s proud of his success.  “You don’t have a job? Don’t blame the corporations or the bank.  Blame yourself.” -- music to the ears of Republicans of every stripe, from one end of the continuum to the other.  He does not believe in same sex relationships, much less marriage. When asked about gay issues he stated “Being gay is a choice…show me the science that says it’s not.” Right in step with the far right.

He wants to throw out the entire tax system and start over.  That’s something that most of us can get behind to some extent.  Whether it is Cain’s 9-9-9 Plan, or something close to it, at least this guy HAS a plan, and the plan has very few vague elements.

Herman Cain owes no obvious political debts and no defined base.  In his most recent weekly commentary on his web site: “It’s true that I’m not a politician. Some say that means I can’t understand the government. Washington is full of politicians – how’s that working out for us? And even though the Cain Train is picking up steam – finishing first in this week's Zogby poll with 28 percent, compared to Rick Perry’s 18 percent and Mitt Romney’s 17 percent, many in the mainstream media still haven’t given me a shot.”  Even his own party appears to be shocked by his surge.  Lack of experience, President Obama’s campaign nemesis, seems to be Cain’s ace in the hole.

It is easy to dismiss the likes of Michelle Bachman and Rick Perry.  It seems as if Mitt Romney is serving as the GOP’s fall-back guy who will likely emerge when the rest crash and burn in due time.  But what if Herman Cain doesn’t flame out?  Given the mood of the electorate, Cain could become the Ross Perot of the 21st century and give ol’ Mitt a run for his money.  Yikes!

Banner borrowed from HermanCain.com