Category Archives: Campaign 2012

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How stupid does he think we are?

There’s one angle to Herman Cain’s presidential campaign that has not been covered.  One question I would like to ask: How stupid do you think we are?  Clearly, the answer is very, very, very stupid.

After watching him in the debates and doing interviews, it is pretty clear that he lacks even the most rudimentary knowledge of policy and politics.   I didn’t think it was possible to be alive during the last decade without having heard of neo-cons.  And his foreign policy knowledge is downright scary.  Didn’t know China has had nuclear weapons for fifty years?  You think the Israelis would be open to discussing the ‘right of return?’  Do you read any news at all?  And for good measure, the 9-9-9 plan would be horrible for everyone — especially the poor and anyone living on a fixed income.  The federal sales tax of 9 percent would be a tax increase on everyone, and the 9 percent income tax would be a tax cut for the wealthy and a big tax hike for those who are barely holding on.

What makes Cain’s economic plan even worse is that he doesn’t seem to understand it all that well.  I thought Governor Mitt Romney made a great point about the sales tax.  He asked Cain if the sales tax included in his plan would replace the current state sales taxes.

“No, your’re mixing apples with oranges,” Cain said.

“So I am going to get a bushel of oranges and apples?” Romney asked.

“You’re mixing apples with oranges,” Cain replied.

Way to stay on message but he didn’t answer the question and I think that is because he didn’t understand it.  Supporters point to his business successes and he done well but I don’t sense a whole lot of intellectual curiosity there.  In his defense, no one knows everything but being proud of knowing nothing doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence.

The newest political scandal is almost the least important clue that this man would be a disastrous president.  But the allegations are serious — and growing more so as more women come forward with stories about Cain.

Herman Cain’s response to the allegations — and it’s hard to use the ‘none of this is true’ line when there are two recorded settlements with the women in question.  But his denials have morphed from one to another so much that he’s only making this much worse for himself. Threatening to sue Politico in a move inspired by Dan Snyder, won’t help things.

Mr. Cain, you are not ready for prime time and everything you do just makes that case more.

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Not ready for prime time

When  “Saturday Night Live” first started, it’s performers were called the “not ready for prime time players.”  There is a certain irony in that description, as they were clearly ready for it.  That was my first introduction to the phrase, which is now being used to describe Herman Cain and his presidential campaign, which is truly “not ready for primetime.”

Why do I think that?  Is it his pride at not being able to name leaders of made up countries?  His poorly conceived economic plan?  His bizzarre schedule that includes book signings in Alabama but few stops in Iowa?  His campaign commercial that features his  “Chief of Staff” smoking?  His go to response of “they are attacking me!” whenever someone questions him?  All of the above?

As someone who grew up in the era of Bill Clinton rather than Jack Kennedy, sexual harassment is not something you dismiss. These are serious allegations against someone who considers themselves to be a serious person, but only when they want to be one.  When asked about border security, an important issue to a lot of people, Herman Cain said he would put an electrified fence along the border that would have a sign attached “this can kill you.”  That’s your plan?  He then clarified that he was joking.  My mom uses the same tactic when she says something stupid. It works no better for her than for him.

When faced with allegations that he harassed two women while at the National Restaurant Association, Mr. Cain’s answer was to ask the reporter “has anyone ever accused you of sexual harassment?”  I suspect the answer would have been no but it doesn’t matter.  Jonathan Martin is not running for president, Herman Cain is.  These questions are not due to a liberal, media establishment attacking someone because of their beliefs, they are part of the due diligence media outlets engage in while covering a credible presidential campaign.

(Question for the class:  When will we all tire of candidates blaming the media for asking tough questions? )

As someone who has worked in campaigns for a long time, the idea of doing things differently is very appealing. We are in a new world and using the new tools offered by social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is exciting.  Anything that gets more people interested in the system is good to me.  There are a few things that need to still be part of a campaign — a solid policy platform, an honest dialogue and an ability to not be annoyed by people who ask honest and decent questions.  These are not just “politics as usual” but part of the process to get to know a candidate enough to determine if they deserve your vote.

Any candidate who does not understand that will never be ready for primetime.

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Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

Kind of ironic bok title, huh?

Kind of ironic book title, huh?

Herman Cain, aka the pizza magnate and current flavor of the month in the GOP POTUS candidate, has made some interesting choices and statements. He seems to think running for president and selling books are not mutually exclusive activities.

To give him his due, the Cain campaign has bought a lot of his books so he is definitely selling a ton while running for president. And Governor Sarah Palin would tell you her VP run and the speculation about her possible 2012 run did not hurt her book sales but just because you can do something, does not mean you should.

This is not an anti-capitalist view I am trying to promote. Sell as many books as want but it seems a little unseemly to use a presidential run to do it. Any presidential campaign is really a multi-month (or year) job interview for the most (or one of) important jobs in the country. Nothing a candidate does will really prepare anyone to be president (and it’s not supposed to, you should be qualified to run before you make that decision) but it does give the nation a chance to get to know the would be candidates. This is not a time to bring anything but your A game. When you think about that, is this really the time to split your energy between running and doing anything else?

Running for president is hard. Not has hard as being the leader of the free world but it is hard. That’s why I criticized Cenk Uygar when he said that Mike Huckabee was “too fat and happy” to run. I have a lot of respect for people who admit that it takes a lot of time and energy to run and there are no guarantees. Good for you, Governor.

Governor Rick Perry has learned how much harder it is to run for national office (I believe he thought that his track record in Texas would prepare him better for the presidential race) than any state-wide. That’s one of the reasons he has said he may not take part in upcoming debates (not that his underwhelming performances have had any role, seriously, if you cannot stay awake past 8:00 pm, how can you be president?).

Congresswomen Michele Bachmann has learned this, too. Maybe that’s why her New Hampshire staff all quit in a huff. Maybe she thought she could make up facts as she goes along in this campaign the way she does every other time she opens her mouth but it doesn’t seem to be working as well as she thought.

So we come back to the current front-runner (in national polls, though, not the state polls, where it matters more), Herman Cain. It is worth noting that the title of this post could also refer to Godfather’s pizza. With all due respect to Chicago deep dish pizza lovers, you can theoretically make pizza outside of New York, but why would you?

Full disclosure, which is pretty obvious to anyone who has met me or read what I write, I am a liberal Democrat and have every intention of voting for President Obama. Having said that, I think having two robust parties and a vigorous discussion about where we want the country to go, is in everyone’s best interest. I was really impressed when Governor Chris Christie said that he believes in “small government, lower taxes and less regulation,” not because I agree with ANY of that, in fact I do NOT, but that’s where our conversation should be.

Herman Cain is not advancing our political discourse at all. His economic plan (the “9/9/9” or “9/0/9”) would be disastrous. His ignorance of foreign policy is scary. It is his lack of interest in running for office, while he runs, that bothers me the most. With little or no campaign infrastructure, few details on his policy proposals and a general laissez-faire attitude towards the process, I am left with the thought that if he doesn’t care about his campaign, why should anyone?

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The real problems with Herman Cain are really our fault

Anyone who is surprised by the high poll numbers candidates like Donald Trump got or the seeming superficiality of the Herman Cain campaign has not been paying attention to American cultural trends and opinions.

Let me explain.

We live in a society that is obsessed with celebrity to the point that the reasons for said celebrity don’t really matter anymore. One of my first PR jobs was as a publicist at RCA Victor. When I was there I saw that people viewed ALL famous people as the same. The president is the same as Lady Gaga who is the same the Pope (in terms of celebrity). It’s the same reason people like Snooky and Kim Kardasian are celebrities and why people commit very public crimes — we all want our 15 minutes. Don’t believe me about the crime part? That’s why it is illegal in Canada and the UK to report the same way.

What does this have to do with the likes of Donald Trump and Herman Cain? Because we have reduced the role of president to that of reality or pop star, some now think that if they just get enough name recognition they can get to be president. I worry that this may be true because while it may win an election (it won Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura governorships in California and Minnesota respectively), but it doesn’t make anyone qualified for anything. And it certainly doesn’t qualify anyone to take on the very difficult task of leading the free world.

Cain’s campaign is setting a troubling precedent. He has no real campaign infrastructure and that’s bad for him. He has no real policy team and that’s bad for the rest of us. He is treating this campaign, at least thus far, as it is a big popularity contest. And the criticisms of his policies are not just coming from the left (to his credit, President Obama has yet to address the Herman Cain issue, this would only elevate Cain and bring down Obama). Conservative activist Grover Norquist has said Cain’s “9,9,9” plan is about ‘as good for the economy and eating a tapeworm to lose weight is healthy.” You can see this here.

Cain’s policy problems don’t end at the US shoreline. He has flaunted his lack of foreign policy knowledge saying, “And when they ask me who is the president of Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan, I’m going to say you know, I don’t know. Do you know?” Check it out here.

This raises a second problem, which also starts with us. Ignorance of things not in US has become a virtue and this development is timed very poorly. As our world shrinks, we become more and more connected to other countries. Not knowing the president of one country is not a huge deal, there are a lot. Being proud of that fact is. In my opinion, the correct answer to that would be, “I am afraid I do not know but I can promise I will find out.”

My real point in all of this is that we lament the choices we are given in politics and the rancor and gridlock but neglect to take any responsibility for it. We have a representative democracy that is suppost to be reflective of us. We need to remember that and be more careful when choosing whom we elect.

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Dear conservatives who long for the days of Reagan…

If there’s one thing as certain as death and taxes it is that every election year (and any other time they think they can work this in) conservatives will bring up the good ol’ days of Ronald Reagan. So I thought I would take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the points they make.

Taxes:

You think taxes are too high? That they are the highest in American history?

Well, they certainly are not the highest in history. And many conservatives like to recall the wonderful world of life under President Dwight D. Eisenhower — so you probably think tax rates were near 0 then. But they weren’t. The highest earners paid — and hold on to your hat — 91 percent of their income in taxes.

Back to President Reagan.

When Reagan took office, the tax rate for the wealthiest among us was 50 percent. They stayed there for the first six years of his tenure in the White House. He lowered them to 38.5 percent in 1987 and then to 28 percent in 1988. That means for seven of his eight years as president, the richest Americans paid less taxes than under President Obama.

But while the tax cuts are what the right crows about, he raised them, too. In 1982, he raised business taxes, in 1983, payroll taxes went up (these have an impact on ALL wage earners), and in 1984, energy taxes went up.

Now, who remembers the 1990s? I do. From what I remember, life was pretty good. The economy did very well and President Clinton’s tax rate for the richest Americans? It was 39.5 percent. This rate now is 35 percent. You can get all this info here.

(Question for the class: if lowering taxes creates jobs, where are they?)

The deficit:

“I don’t worry about the deficit, it is big enough to take care of itself.” — President Ronald Reagan.

That comment may have been made in jest but if you look at his policies, you might think Reagan meant it because it grew during his presidency. In fact, it was lower under President Carter. Under Carter it was 2.5 percent of the GDP. Under Reagan it fluctuated from 4.2 percent to 6 percent. And think about that for a moment. If the economy IMPROVED under Reagan, the GDP grew meaning deficits went up in actual dollars a LOT.

It took getting a Democrat back into the White House (thank you, President Clinton) to balance the budget to the point where we even had surpluses by the end of his two terms.

My last thought on this is that we became a debtor nation for the first time under President Reagan.

Don’t believe me about any of this? Check this out.