As I sat in the bleachers over the weekend, listening to consecutive announcements, watching the tube and the blogosphere erupt into various levels of emotion (which the Village Voice did an excellent job of capturing by the way!) with the confirmed departure of establishment hopeful Mitch Daniels from the GOP arena and Tim Pawlenty's ‘official’ presidential announcement today, which will more than likely shift the establishment’s attention to, I was particularly struck by the man most pundits have written off as the underdog, referred to as a “joke”, as “unelectable”, attempted to make an Alan Keyes or Ron Paul candidate, when his appeal to regular folks is quite the opposite from the fringe. When in all actualities, that man has served his country in the Navy as a mathematician in ballistics, chaired a Federal Reserve Bank, risen to the heights of business success as a CEO, expressed his common sense beliefs through the airwaves, and now redefines this race through not only unwavering conservatism, but straight-talking common sense solutions to the problems our Nation and its People face…that gentleman’s name is Herman Cain.
Prior to Saturday’s announcement, Friends of Herman Cain had already released this first official announcement:
Then following Saturday’s announcement, Cain appeared on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace:
Several outlets jumped on Cain for appearing not to be familiar with the ‘right of return’ lingo of the foreign affairs gurus, somewhat reminiscent of Gibson’s ‘gotcha’ question to Palin about the Bush doctrine (minus the glasses-on-the-tip-of-the-nose elite scowl, of course); but to refer to this as some kind of devastating blunder is a bit of an overblown stretch. Can we say “altogether unclear foreign policy” of Obama’s? Or better yet, unclear on basic ‘rights’ or ‘wrongs’, as well as allies or foes? But Cain continued Wallace’s questioning by stating that it’s Israel’s prerogative as to what terms Palestinian’s can return to what’s now Israeli land. However, I think the poignant declaration of the conversation was at the beginning of Wallace’s foreign affairs questioning: “What would President Cain offer the Palestinians to make peace?” To which Cain responded, “Nothing…because I’m not convinced that the Palestinians are really interested in peace.” Hallelujah! These are not a politician’s words, but an honest man’s words who has a grasp on the common sense of reality.
As Cain turns his presidential aspirations towards Iowa’s straw poll and winning over the impending caucuses, Martin Sieff published a piece that’s sure to piss off Establishment Republicans, while rallying conservatives within and outside the Party, posing the question, “Could Herman Cain Be the Next President Ronald Reagan?”. After vetting all the wrong turns of the many establishment candidates, Sieff addresses the qualities that Reagan brought to the 1980 campaign: his lifetime of experience and his skill as a communicator. Huh, real-world experience with articulation to boot…here’s a great example of the sought-after qualities that conservatives desire when declaring against the Establishment that the era of Reagan is indeed NOT over!
Only Herman Cain, who officially announced his candidacy on Saturday, of the current crop of Republican candidates has the moral stature, the record of achievement, the outspoken wit and candor, and the simple courage to speak his mind that were the hallmarks of the Great Reagan. Only he has proved to be an eloquent and effective public spokesman without fear or hesitation in championing those same principles.
Beside expanding on these comparisons, with brief mention of Cain’s role in helping to sink HillaryCare back in ’93, Sieff gives attention to both the liberal media and Republican establishment’s reactions to Cain’s candidacy:
Like Reagan, Cain is charming, reassuring, good-natured and delivers knock-out punch-lines. He really is another Great Communicator. If anything, Cain is being taken seriously by the liberal media far more quickly – to their credit – than he is by the Jurassic Dinosaurs ruling the GOP – the same geniuses who gave you Bob Dole and John McCain, and who never dared raise a peep when George W. Bush rolled up a then-record federal debt, produced his prescription program fiasco and plunged eagerly into liberal nation-building in Iraq and Afghanistan. Well, conservatives, How’d That Work Out for Ya?
Black conservatives have especially outstanding track records of sticking to their guns and their principles when they rise to positions of real responsibility. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is the stand-out example of that. So is Tom Sowell. Cain has always shown that quality too. That is why he offers the best hope of rescuing this great nation from financial meltdown and ruin.
Then Sieff makes an offer that I hadn’t anticipated in this article: “Cain’s ideal running mate, therefore, would be Rep. Paul Ryan, who has shown more courage and willingness to put real rein-in-the-deficit measures on the table that would work in the real world than any other Republican. And that is why Cain-Ryan would be the GOP dream ticket for 2012 and the only real hope conservatives have of sending the president back to the arms of Rahm Emanuel in Chicago after only one term.”
All one needs to do is look at the principles behind that ticket to understand how that’d definitely work out for the future of America!
ADDENDUM: Cain's appearance on Hannity (05-23-11):
