Herman Cain arrived on the scene like a breath of fresh air. He spoke about optimistic solutions for complex problems facing the nation. He talked from experience as a problem solver. He exuded a can-do spirit of friendly capitalistic know-how. The fact that he was black receded far into the background as he made mighty and endearing comments about what it takes to succeed in America. We believed him when he told us that hard work and focus could still pay off, regardless of the color of your skin. But the fresh and exuberant personality soon became fragmented by lacerating facts. There was the joke about killing Mexicans with an electrified fence on the border. Was it a joke? There was the simplified flat tax, which sounded so convincing at first, a very do-able solution for all that ails our complicated tax system. The only thing is, it turned out that this Herman Cain solution was too simple and too painful for the vast majority of us, who would end up paying higher taxes compared to our means than the wealthy. And there was the question of his credentials when it comes to China and other nations. He seemed not to know that one of the largest contenders for the world stage was already a nuclear power. Finally came Shame Gate: the revelation that in his past, he had used executive power to solicit sexual favors. At first, we didn’t believe the stories because they were confidentially sealed, but then someone stepped forward out from under the veil of silence, which Herman Cain supporters had purchased on previous occasions.
It’s as if the charming, can-do fellow had suddenly run out of his fixer-upper medicine. Whether you regarded him as a staunch conservative or a fun-loving middle-of-the-roader, what you could no longer deny was that he came with baggage. He didn’t know the facts of foreign policy. He couldn’t keep from saying the wrong thing about immigration. And, finally, it seems, he can’t keep his pants on.
The problem with simple solutions for complex problems – really, the essence of Herman Cain – is that politics requires sensitivity as well as candor, veracity in addition to a desire to help. So while the nation longs for easy, convincing solutions to what ails us, we are still not willing to put common sense aside. A man who does not know foreign policy, who cannot be understanding of the immigrants who want to come to our nation, who wants to whitewash tax differences with a cheerful slogan – such a man cannot really lead us on the serious path of economic recovery. He cannot build on our traditions of social justice. Neither would we allow him to take on such an honorable and important task when we have come to know that he cannot refrain from the abuse of power to meet his personal needs. So the man with the simple solutions and the simple problems will quickly fade into history, while those with more complex solutions will prevail.
We are a lucky country to have the patience, tolerance, press and will to examine our candidates thoroughly, and to ascertain for ourselves the facts with which to make a fair determination, especially when it comes to voting for someone who wants to be president of our nation. That decision, how to vote, is neither simple nor quick. It requires a thoughtfulness and integrity that Mr. Cain sacrificed in the interest of ambition. Some say he never seemed like a serious candidate. Now, regrettably, we know for sure.
Steven Mullen,
Culver City
