Herman Cain is surging because he's authentic

Conservative Home USA ^ | 10/6/2011 | John Rossomando

[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.

[beandog]

I think that’s pretty funny since Cain is the one that endorsed Romney last time. It occurs to me, that if Cain drops out he could very likely endorse Romney instead of Perry.

[fluffdaddy]

You haven’t presented any facts for anyone to ignore. You’re raving. You are deep into a psychotic episode here. Time to renew your contact with reality, before it’s too late. Herman Cain isn’t really running for President. He’s flogging books. Lady Gaga has a better chance of winning the Republican nomination. Deal with it, honey.