Posted on 10/06/2011 4:41:47 AM PDT by rzman21
John Rossomando Follow John on Twitter
Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan has drawn a lot of attention in the press and has been attributed for his meteoric rise in the polls.
The latest CBS News poll shows him tied with Mitt Romney at 17 percent. Only two weeks ago, Mr. Cain's poll numbers stood at 5 percent.
But a lot more is at work here. Mr. Cain has something that is missing in the other candidates who seem caught up in themselves – authenticity. Having met Mr. Cain a handful of times, I have been struck with how genuine he seems.
Reagan and Clinton became popular with the people because they understood how to be genuine and connect with the people.
I’ve dealt with countless plastic, cookie-cutter politicians over the years, but Mr. Cain impresses me as someone who knows what he believes and is direct and to the point. People want that.
And the competition seems to lack that spark. Instead, they dither. They snipe at each other.
And most of all, they lack a clear message about what they are for. Beating Barack Obama can’t involve adopting the Rick Lazio strategy of saying, “I’m not Barack Obama.”
Of the nine people who have shown up at these debates, only Mr. Cain has made a case of what he is for.
People voted for Barack Obama in 2008 because they thought he was a different type of politician, but as the polls have shown they’ve had buyer’s remorse.
But Mr. Cain offers them something different because he is a true political outsider who doesn’t belong to the system that voters have grown to hate.
This could prove to be an advantage for Mr. Cain as he moves into the primaries as long as he stays on message and doesn’t let distractions drag him into the weeds.
But that said, he has history against him because all of our nation’s 44 presidents from Washington to Obama were either previously involved in politics or were military heroes like Taylor, Grant, or Eisenhower.
If Mr. Cain turns out to be the darkhorse candidate who comes out of nowhere and beats Mitt Romney it will be because he has a sense of clarity and authenticity that Americans see lacking in the competition.
So then Mr. Cain in not like the Phony Mitt?
Sadly, the youth of today are getting their values from TV talking heads.
I feel blessed to have been born before TV and the Internet - didn’t know it then;) Sounding just like my Mom now - although she told us ‘When I was a kid we didn’t have running water, electricity etc.,’
Will tell my children how lucky I was to have ponies, well water we had to pull up on a rope, oil lamps and no TV - only Sunday School!!!!
In my opinion, Herman Cain was surging because people were looking for a way to express their desire for Sarah Palin to get into the race. They couldn’t vote for her in the straw polls, and they wanted to express dissatisfaction with the current crop of candidates.
Cain was known as the guy who had no chance to win, and he’s also a pretty good conservative on most issues, so he was a good way to vote “none of the above”.
But suddenly, that vaulted him to the front, which got him the votes of the people who say they are voting for whoever is in front.
Now, we will see if he has sticking power, or if the MSM and other candidates can bring him back down to earth.
I like Cain, but I’m not convinced he can win, and not convinced that a guy who has never dealt with a government executive position, never dealt with legislature or how public policy is set is really the best choice for a President.
I had hoped Sarah would enter and make the choice easy. Now I’m back to deciding whether I want Cain, or Perry (who I think is a fine conservative, I could care less about the minor issues so many here are so up in arms about, but am turned off by his inability so far to articulate his conservative credentials in a debate setting.
I could stand Bachman, but given her meltdown over the Gardasil issue, her penchant for making bold claims that are hard to back up, and her total lack of executive experience, she’s not high on my list.
Gingrich just scares me as being a “politician”, he speaks well, says the right things most of the time, but feels like at any moment he could whole-heartedly support amnesty, or global warming, or even decide he had a “better Obamacare”. And I LOVE Rick Santorum but he reminds me of Mike Huckabee in terms of his “religious fanatic” approach to politics. (I’m not knocking religious fanatics, just his absolute certainty about peculiar points of view comes across as a bit harsh and fanatical).
I don’t expect anybody else to jump in and save the day.
So, I’m waiting for the next debate. If Rick Perry can show me something, I’ll probably send him money. If not, I guess I’ll be on the Cain Train, even though it appears headed for a side track in the end.
I will vote for Romney in a general election, but I won’t be happy about it. That will mean conservatives failed to rally behind and support a “good enough” conservative candidate.
And Mr.Cain is so Right on in his commentary about the Occupiers— They ARE anti-American— they are the BEGUILED— the same Communist Dialectic of the 60’s anti-War bunch.With the Communists and the Muslim Brotherhood/CAIR —with the Union Thugs— and College Professors— And this Revolutionary Administration all pushing for the same blood in the streets violence to distract the people from the EVIL of this current Administration. Hunker down boys the S— is about to hit the fan.
Cain is also not afraid of saying he was wrong or he said the wrong thing.
This is a man who will surround himself with good people, listen to their opinions and chart a direction from there.
That is what a great CEO does.
Anyone else notice the strange article comments from libtards in the MSM outlets? Apparently supporting Herman Cain makes us racists now?!? I don’t follow their logic, but I now know anything I support they will hate. So F em... They are a party of hate...
I think this is also why Cain appeals to me. I made it pretty well in life and yet I come from NOTHING. I worked against the odds to get through college, to succeed in a career and in my personal life as well.
I was given nothing, EVER. (Scratch that ...my dad did give me $500 dollars ONCE to get through my first sememster in school. After that, he didn’t give me another dime.)
Cain is a totally self-made man. Doesn’t even appear that he took advantage of affirmative action crap, either. He just worked hard and had a bit of smarts. He seems to have attitude, mostly — and that is exactly what anyone needs.
There are a LOT of smart people, yet most don’t have the right attitude towards life. Namely, liberals and young goofballs of the sort that are camping out in NYC.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. They are all good points. We shall see how things shake out in this post-Palin campaign.
A candidate's prospects for success in a primary campaign have nothing to do with poll numbers at this point. They have everything to do with the candidate's ability to put the machinery of a competitive campaign in place. Cain hasn't done it, can't do it and isn't even trying to do it. He hasn't got the resume that can draw the personnel it takes to create a big-time campaign. Even If he could find the people, he couldn't pay for them. His fundraising base is nowhere near equal to the task of winning a major party nomination. It isn't happening for him. No way, no how.
Even if Cain could build a serious campaign he wouldn't be a serious candidate. He has already started wilting in he spotlight. His endorsement of the WaPo’s ridiculous rock smear on Perry was pathetic. His signature 999 plan isn't even half baked. He knows very little about geopolitics (Right of return? Huh?) He has a tin ear that comes from preaching to the choir as a media personality who never has to build coalitions in the political arena (”If you don't have a job, it's your fault”) Cain has none of the political skills a President needs and very few of the skills a candidate needs. His only relevant skill is this: He knows how to rev up a small slice of the Republican base by telling them what they want to hear. That's not enough, not by a long shot.
He is only riding as high as he is right now because he's the latest candidate to embody “none of the above.” He can't sustain his current position, let alone build on it. The Republican electorate will come to terms with its disappointing choices and select from the short menu of two serious candidates. Herman Cain will go back to flacking books. In fact, he already has.
Having wasted vast amounts of energy on the phantom candidacy of Sarah Palin, too many here at FR are now eager to waste some more on another phantom candidacy. It has been clear for months that Sarah Palin hadn't tried to build a competitive campaign and so either wouldn't be running or wouldn't be running with any chance of winning. But many of us waited with bated breath for Sarah to save us anyway. We really should learn not to be so gullible in the future. Conservatives can't be effective when they're fully occupied chasing rainbows.
Cain might as well not be running. Like Sarah Palin he hasn't done any of the things that make for a successful campaign. Sarah at least could have done so. Cain can't. He's just occupying space and wasting everyone’s time. We all need to get back to the serious business of beating Romney and Obama. Herman Cain isn't going to play an important role in that business and it's high time for everyone to recognize that.
Spoken as someone who has done absolutely NO research on the man, his speeches, his writings, his resume or his platform.
You didn't get very good marks in the 'Plays well with others' category, did you?
Ah so my problem is that I just don’t know Herman like you know Herman. Give me a break. Everything I said about Cain is accurate and, if you know anything about him, you know it. He’s a beginner in an expert’s game and he’s just cluttering up the field. It’s as simple as that.
Denial never leads anywhere good.
If you think he is incapable, you haven’t read his resume.
If you think he can’t inspire, you haven’t listened to him speak. If you think he can’t win, you’re not looking at the polls. If you think money is an issue - Cain won the Florida straw poll spending $2500 to Perry’s $2 million. If you think the odds are too great, well he has made a lifetime of beating odds, from turning around bankrupt businesses to beating cancer.
Your argument that people won’t ever elect him because he is a non politician might have meant something a year ago, but most people at this point have decided that is a positive considering where career politicians are getting us.
And people are getting behind him. His campaign has been slow and steady and has only increased. So far he doesn’t have the surge and fall back of other candidates. It isn’t a fluke he has had the highest positive intensity on Gallup for 15 out of 18 weeks, and this week, the highest of any GOP candidate ever.
AND he can beat Obama. He would wipe the floor with him in a debate.
Who is in detail
*denial
I like Cain. I did like Perry, not so sure anymore. And not because of the phony in-state tuition issue, or the phony gardisil issue but because he just can’t debate and I don’t see him getting very far against Obama without being able to debate.
I would like to see EITHER a President Cain OR a President Perry but I now think that a President Perry is in the same category as a President Palin: not possible at this time.
Your tribute to Cain is touching but grossly overblown and ultimately beside the point. Cain hasn't got a serious campaign organization. He could be a political genius (he isn't) and he would still have no shot at the nomination. That's reality and we all have to deal with it.
Go ahead and deal with whatever reality you live in.
Have a nice day.
We don’t get to choose reality. There’s only one and we all have to deal with it, barring insanity. You have a nice day, but try to do it here on the planet Earth with the rest of us.
Honey, you have chosen fantasy as your reality.
I have shown you and several others the facts over and over and you all just ignore them.
“It occurs to me that if Perry drops and endorses Romney instead of Cain, that will just prove what many have said for some time now, that Perry is Romney lite.”
He probably will do that, simply because he aligns MUCH BETTER with Romney than he does with Cain. He cannot even understand Cain.
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