Herman Cain is Running to be CEO of the United States

2:01 PM Mike Brownstein

Purdue alum, Herman Cain is fast becoming a contender in the race to be the 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate. He seems to be winning straw polls, and doing a lot of media appearances. However, I think there are four reasons he will not win the nomination:

1) He is Very Close to Glenn Beck
If there's one person that many Americans cannot stand it's Glenn Beck. Did you know that Herman Cain made an appearance at the Israel Rally Glenn Beck held? I should mention that both the left and right in Israel protested that rally and called Beck an extremist. Then he showed up on Beck's TV show and made some interesting comments about the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Cain agreed with Beck that the Wall Street protesters are Marxists. To be honest, there may be a few, but not everyone who supports Occupy Wall Street necessarily subscribes to that philosophy. Cain is one of the only candidates making appearances on Beck's Radio/Internet/TV show. Rick Perry (R-TX), Ron Paul (R-TX), Rick Santorum (R-PA), and others have also appeared on Glenn Beck's program, but it seems as if in the past few months that Herman Cain is the only one making repeat visits. I could be wrong about this, but this is a pattern I've noticed.


2) The Lack of Political Experience is Going to Hurt him 
Herman Cain may have run corporations, but it seems more like a CEO than a Presidential Candidate. Just like Newt Gingrich, he doesn't appreciate the "gotcha" questions, and understandable. However, I think these "gotcha" questions really illustrate his lack of political experience, and possibly even more about his level of political knowledge*. The President deals with a lot of issues that effect a lot of different people, and it's expected that the President would have some type of background knowledge on a plethora of issues. While the President does hire advisors to assist him/her, the President needs to be knowledgeable of politics.


3)  Presidential Candidates Don't Discuss Race
Here's more of a reason that Herman Cain is running to be CEO and not President. When you're President, you cannot make statements like this:





 
It's really not all that presidential to try to take major stands on issues like race. This is not something that will be relateable to everyone. As President, Cain would be representing everyone, and this statement is not one that is necessarily that everyone agrees with. While race is still an issue in this country, making profound statements about race is generally not presidential unless it relates to their administration's specific goals. Imagine if President Richard Nixon or President Lyndon B. Johnson were more public about their racial preferences. It's generally not a good idea to bring up cultural taboos in public discourse.

4) "9-9-9" is a Terrible Repeatable Phrase 
Jon Huntsman (R-UT) said at the Bloomberg debate, "9-9-9 sounds more like the price of a pizza." I think he really made a very strong point here. Sure, it's repeatable, but has been more the butt of more jokes than any real discussion. It's nice to have that publicity, but I also feel that he again is trying to think of the US Government as a large corporation. If the phrase sticks, then it's a great marketing ploy. However, when in political science it has been shown continually that the public does not generally pay a great deal of attention to politics, the general public are going to see the 9-9-9 plan in more of the light that Jon Huntsman joked about. Also on a side note, the 9-9-9 will be an economic burden on low-income Americans**.

Herman Cain is a candidate who seems to be more of the CEO type than a Presidential candidate. As someone who has more experience in business and not politics, this is to be expected. Even if he values his inexperience as a strength, he must convince the larger public that it is a strength. I feel that he really has not exhibited this very well. I also think that Cain has a hard time discussing non-economic issues which may also cost him when it comes to debates on other issues that effect people. In essence, Herman Cain may just represent the zeitgeist of the Tea Party, and its political clout.

*-It's hard to label yourself a strong advocate for Israel in the American public if you're in favor of a Palestinian right of return



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