"If you're taking flak, you're over the target.” ~ originated with WWII bomber pilots
As Gallup shows Herman Cain's surge, nearly tying with Romney, and a new Quinnipiac poll shows both tied (UPDATE: Cain ahead of Romney in new SC poll!), we've come to learn that frontrunner challenges to Romney certainly come with considerable criticism from both the Left and the Right, and Cain's ascent provides no exception. The latest attacks come in two forms: both personal and economic. Let's elaborate...
Within the past few days, a couple of 'popular' liberal figures in the black community have excoriated Cain for having the audacity to de-victimize his social status and promote a conservative agenda. First came radical left-wing activists Professor Cornel West of Princeton, seated with Tavis Smiley of PBS (it's as if I'm watching some kind of wierd skit)...
...then came singer Harry Belafonte's attacks on the Joy Behar Show (note the Minion-like synthetic voice...just sayin')...
Now, some of thinner skin might pull back on criticism of these men of the self-segregated liberal establishment, but Herman Cain would not be such an individual. In reference to West, "That's the difference between someone who has spent their life in academia and someone who has spent their life in the real world," and for Belafonte, we get something much sweeter, "Look, I left the Democrat plantation a long time ago!"
As Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters ponders, "Just imagine what he'll have to put up with from folks like these if he actually wins the nomination and faces Barack Obama next November." I'd imagine a new kind of racism, much like what we're already experiencing with the black-on-black attacks, calling black conservatives "Uncle Tom", "Oreo" or worse. Yet, if anyone is capable of deflecting these kind of discriminatory attacks, Cain's the man to do so with conservatism on his side.
Moving on to economic criticism, both Left and Right are attacking Cain's 9-9-9 Plan. So let me take this opportunity to share one of the clearest explanations of that plan from the man himself in this WSJ interview...
This dispels the primary liberal assumption that the 9-9-9 plan will not generate the same amount of revenue as the current progressive tax code. As Cain explains, it's revenue neutral. His explanation of the current tax codes's "sneak atTAXES" (and also Obama's proposal), the required 2/3 vote of the Senate to change rates and the transparency factor of the plan (visibly holding Congress accountable to the Will of the People), in addition to the fact that this is not the final phase of Cain's ultimate economic goal (the Fair Tax), also puts to bed the conservative worry that liberals will manipulate and raise these percentages on a dime.
The 9-9-9 Plan provides certainty and creates a fair tax in which everyone has skin in the game. As a Sun Herald editorial explains, (1) the 9% gross income tax (income + Social Security + Medicare) will increase take-home pay and thus stimulate spending, (2) the reduced 9% corporate tax will eliminate all current corporate tax loopholes (equating to the current tax structure without such deductions), significantly shrinks the IRS and provides an opportunity for the price of products and services to be lowered, and (3) the 9% national sales tax is a consumption tax (like the Fair Tax, which Phase 2 of Cain's economic plan ultimately replaces 9-9-9 with) that will only be paid upon purchases which are totally controlled by the consumer, allowing for a new sense of frugality. The editorial surmises "the bottom line is that once American business is confident that their tax rates and regulatory cost will be stable for many years, they can resume growth and hiring labor resources to support that growth. Although a lower effective tax rate than now, the total taxes collected will be higher than current revenue due to a larger tax base against which the tax rate will be applied." A conclusion that Cain’s 9% for economic growth would surely beat Obama’s 9% unemployment is a certainty!
And like his plan and his frontrunner status, Herman Cain finds himself under fire, yet all continue to hold steady. Tonight's debate will have a hand in determining whether that path continues to ascend. This blog has no doubt in Cain's verbal proficiencies and conservative dedication to take him higher.
