Herman Cain Brings Needed Lift to Republican Race

On Saturday, Herman Cain made it official; he’s running for President of the United States in 2012. This is good news! I have been waiting for a candidate who I can support, who I can believe is a conservative, and I believe Mr. Cain is that candidate. He has been a Tea Party favorite pretty much since the Tea Party movement began, and now that he has announced his candidacy, support should grow even larger as more and more people see and hear him.

In his Monday column at WorldNetDaily, Mr. Cain addresses three “negatives” skeptics point out about a Herman Cain candidacy: lack of money, lack of name recognition and lack of experience as a previous political office holder. He makes it clear that these are not insurmountable problems as he writes,

“My name may not be a household name, but it is a grass-roots recognized name. Just consider the number of straw polls in which I have placed first in the last few months. The Tea Party Patriots summit in Phoenix, the Conservatives Values Conference hosted by Rep. Steve King in Des Moines, Iowa, multiple state Republican Party conventions and, most recently, an online Fox News survey following my official announcement of candidacy on Saturday. …

Even a recent Zogby poll shows me in first place of the declared or soon-to-be declared candidates for the Republican nomination for president. And, ever since the Gallup organization started including me in its "positive intensity" poll, I have placed in the top three – and most recently tied for first – among all of the potential candidates. …

Just as money cannot buy happiness, money alone cannot buy the Republican nomination, or even a second term as President Obama hopes to do by raising $1 billion in campaign cash. Although we need enough money to be competitive, money alone will not supersede the voices of an energized and informed electorate. That's what is propelling my campaign into the limelight.

No, I have never held public office before, and I may not know how Washington works, as some have pointed out. But I do not want to learn how to create a $14 trillion national debt, or waste $1 trillion to create a stalled economy and a nine percent unemployment rate or continue to push problems off on future generations.”

Right-on, Mr. Cain! America is desperate for a non-politician. We are sick of the establishment political machine spitting up the same old “experienced politicians” who proceed to grow government and steal our money and our freedoms. The fact that Mr. Cain has never held elected office is a big plus in my mind. His amazing amount of business leadership experience is what really makes him quite attractive as a presidential candidate. You don’t have to have held elected political office to be a good leader.

Mr. Cain’s impressive credentials are listed on his website. The introduction to his biography states,

“Herman Cain has a unique personality and multi-dimensional background in business, politics and life. Herman Cain is an accomplished speaker and writer on the subjects of leadership, motivation, national and economic policy, politics and achieving one’s American Dream.”

Among many other things, he was Chairman, CEO and President of Godfather’s Pizza Corporation. He turned that company around from the brink of bankruptcy. He was also a former president of the Tax Leadership Council, which is a branch of Americans for Fair Taxation. He served as Chairman of the Board of the National Restaurant Association and as President and CEO of the Association.

He has been honored in a number of ways with awards and honorary degrees, and he holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Morehouse College and a Masters Degree in Computer Science from Purdue University.

One part of his work history that makes some conservatives cringe a bit is the fact that he was a past Chairman and Member of the Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. For one writer at WorldNetDaily, that seems to be a deal-breaker.

In his column on Monday titled, “The False Hope of Herman Cain,” Vox Day attempts to tear down the candidacy of Mr. Cain by claiming that Mr. Cain is not a genuine conservative. He even goes so far as to claim that Mr. Cain’s economic philosophy and employment record are communist. Why? Because of his stint with the Federal Reserve. Attempting to prove the point, Day quotes Karl Marx insisting on,

"Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly."

Because of Mr. Cain’s association with the Kansas City branch of the Federal Reserve, Day labels Mr. Cain an “elite bankster.” He then quotes a response Mr. Cain gave concerning the proposed audit of the Federal Reserve. The quote is also a bit puzzling to me. Day does not say when Mr. Cain made the statement, but here’s what Day wrote,

“…on the Neil Boortz show, [Herman Cain’s] answer with regard to a prospective congressional audit of the Federal Reserve missed the point so completely that it leaves the informed observer wondering if the man is deeply disingenuous or astonishingly clueless.

‘Some people say we ought to audit the Federal Reserve. Here's what I do know. The Federal Reserve already has so many internal audits it's ridiculous. I don't know why people think we're going to learn this great amount of information from the Federal Reserve. … Here's the advice I give to people who think we ought to audit the Federal Reserve. Call them up and ask them if you can have one of their PR people explain to you how the Federal Reserve operates. I think a lot of people are calling for the audit of the Federal Reserve because they don't know enough about it! There's no hidden secrets going on [at] the Federal Reserve to my knowledge. We've got 12 Federal Reserve banks, find out which district you're in, call them up and go from there! We don't need to waste money with another commission or an audit. It's not necessary. Because, folks, we've got a lot of other problems we need to worry about.’”

I must admit, that is an odd response. How could we expect an internal audit—a self audit—by the Federal Reserve to be an honest one? It would be nice to hear Mr. Cain further elaborate on that response.

That aspect of Mr. Cain is not going to stop me from supporting him. He is far and away the best guy in the Republican presidential field at this time. His website has his position on a number of major issues, and his words are the words of a conservative. I have no reason to doubt his conservatism.

On the issues, he sounds like one of us. He is for securing our borders and enforcing our immigration laws. He understands the danger the illegal alien invasion poses for our society in terms of crime, the economy and even Muslim terrorists that take advantage of the porous southern U.S. border to sneak into America.

He is in support of tapping our own oil sources here in the United States to help get us off Middle Eastern oil. He is for across-the-board tax cuts, reducing capital gains taxes and permanently eliminating the “death tax.” He fully supports our national defense and the need to give our troops the very best training, equipment, technology and infrastructure to help them win.

He knows the serious need to reduce the size and spending of the federal government. He understands that entitlement programs need to be modernized, and in some cases, eliminated. He knows unions are out of control and have become little more than political power machines for the Left.

He is for repealing the devilish Obamacare legislation. One point I wish the Republicans would not push is the “repeal and replace” slogan, and Mr. Cain does say he wants to repeal and replace Obamacare. I want that garbage repealed—period—not replaced! Mr. Cain does have some good ideas such as tort reform to reduce frivolous malpractice lawsuits that have driven medical costs sky-high. I say let’s repeal Obamacare, and go for tort reform and health insurance portability across state lines, for a start, but government is already way too involved in our health care system, and they need to leave it alone.

On his issues page, Mr. Cain does not address the moral issues of abortion and the radical homosexual agenda’s invasion of our society and military, but he does acknowledge America’s foundation of trust in God. As he says,

America needs a president who will help turn us back from this slide into the socialist abyss and help shrink the size of the federal government. I believe Herman Cain could be such a man. I sincerely hope he is not fooling us. He seems to be the real deal. He is certainly a much-needed lift in the bleak field of Republican presidential candidates.

I saw his interview with Hannity and was not impressed.

What was it about the interview or the candidate that did not impress you??

I like Mr. Cain because he's conservative, he's a business man, and because he speaks plainly. He cannot be hurt by losing this campaign. He's not a professional politician and therefore does not have to "make nice" with other professional politicians because his ego, his self-worth, and his future career don't depend on "electivity".

Unlike the "mclosers" of the world.

So...in my case at least....if Mr. Cain should win the nomination of the Republican party, I will vote for him. I will vote for virtually any Republican candidate at all....as long as the stain is eradicated, and he and his entire regime are removed from power.

I agree the antifederalists were right. Having said that, I think Cain has good stage presence and speaks well. I think Obama and the dems are so weak a ham sandwich could get elected running against “The One”.

I like Cain alot, but how come I feel that when/if Palin enters the race that it’s going to suck the oxygen out of his campaign. I’m a Palin supporter and I’m not here to bash Herman because he is my number 2 if Palin doesn’t decide to run. But I feel all this “excitement” around Herman is present because as of this moment he’s the only conservative that is officially in the race. Jmo.

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