Muny Dews

History Shows Herman Cain Can Win, Despite Never Having Held Political Office

2011-05-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Herman Cain's presidential candidacy is quickly dismissed by many, because he has never held political office. However, there is an example from 20 years ago that shows Herman Cain has a good chance to get elected—the 1992 Ross Perot run.

In the late summer of 1992the presidential polls looked like this:

· Perot: 40%
· Bush: 31%
· Clinton: 25%

Perot was within striking distance. A number of presidents had won with a popular vote in the low 40% range:

· Nixon won with 43%
· Wilson won with 41%
· Lincoln won with 39%
· Buchannan won with 45%

Polls earlier in the summer had Perot and Bush tied at 35% and Clinton at the same 25%. The Perot campaign had momentum, and it was gaining supporters. It looked to the world like Ross Perot had pulled off the impossible—winning the presidency as a third-party candidate. What made the feat even more amazing is Perot had never held political office.

It was at this point that Perot stunned everyone by declaring he was no longer interested in being president, quit the race, and went back to Texas. Perot later reentered the race, but the damage was done. Bill Clinton won the election with only 43% of the vote (a number Perot surely would have exceeded had he stayed the course).

My impression then (as it is today) was that Perot purposely sabotaged his campaign. Why? For the same reason a dog never manages to catch the car—the object of the exercise is the chase, actually catching the car raises a whole set of problems the dog would rather avoid. Perot was going to win, but winning was not what Perot wanted.

Ultimately, why Perot sabotaged his campaign or what he actually wanted out of it doesn't matter. What does matter are the circumstances that caused so many Americans to back someone with no political experience, and how those circumstances are repeating themselves today.

The Perot movement was focused on four issues:

1. Taxes
2. Federal spending and the size of government,
3. Distrust of and disillusionment with career politicians
4. The direction of the government (specifically, concerns that the changes Reagan had enacted were being rolled back to the big-government socialist policies of the '60s and '70s)

The Perot movement was not about foreign policy or social issues.

Sound familiar? It should, because these are the exact same issues driving the modern Tea Party movement. And it begs the question: if it could happen in 1992, why couldn’t it also happen in 2012?

The Herman Cain of today enjoys a number of advantages over the Ross Perot of 1992:

1. The Tea Party movement is significantly larger and more intense than the Perot movement.

There were no mass marches or protests associated with the Perot movement, and little in the way of grass roots activity. It was primarily a top down movement driven by mass media.

Today’s Tea Party movement is large and dynamic. It has spawned thousands of rallies and organizations. Literally millions of conservatives, for the first time in their lives, have gotten off their couches and into the streets. The Tea Party movement is a bottom up movement—the activity and drive is at the grass roots level. The typical tea partier is tremendously more active and involved on a regular basis than the members of the Perot movement were.

In short: Herman Cain has a significantly larger, more active base of support than Perot ever hoped to have.

2. This is the information age

When Perot ran the majority of Americans didn’t even own a computer, the Internet was a curiosity used primarily by academia, and only 3% of Americans owned a mobile phone. Cable television and music compact discs were the hot, new communication technologies.

Google is reporting that “Herman Cain” has been the top political search term since the South Carolina debate.

The internet which allows for a better grass roots organizing effort. Cain has extensive experience, just not as a politician. Today's communication tools will allow his supporters to get that message out to everyone, preventing his opponents (and the mainstream media) from incorrectly portraying him as inexperienced.

3. Herman Cain would be running as the GOP standard bearer, not as a third party candidate

This point is routinely glossed over by Cain’s detractors. The fact is, should Cain win the GOP nomination, the choice in the general election would come down to Obama & Cain. In a head to head contest with Obama, Cain could easily win.

In fact, it's easy to see from 1992 that once Herman Cain secured the GOP nomination, winning the general election is not only possible, but probable. The biggest hurdle for Herman Cain isn't the general election, it is the GOP primaries. And the biggest hurdle he has to overcome in the primaries is the (false) idea that he can't win in the general election—he can.

Are the Attacks on Herman Cain Actually Helping Him?

2011-05-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

Anyone can see that there is a concerted effort by Ron Paul supporters to attack Herman Cain. The reason is obvious: Herman Cain's performance in the South Carolina debate sucked the oxygen out of the Ron Paul campaign. Paul--a fringe candidate at best--was depending heavily on making a show in the SC debate to drum up early enthusiasm (and donations) for his 2012 run.

But an unexpected thing happened in the debate. Herman Cain not only won the debate, he dominated it. Ron Paul was reduced to making the most outrageous statments he could think of in an attempt to garner any attention what so ever (calling for the legalization of not just marijuana, but heroin). Ron Paul came away from the SC debate empty handed, and if things don't change that's how Paul will come away from future debates as well. As of now, it looks like the 2012 Ron Paul campaign is (like Newt Gingrich's) DOA.

Any YouTube, news story comment section, or internet forum making any mention of Herman Cain was suddenly flooded with anti-Cain posts. This was no accident. Just spend a little time on any Ron Paul forum and you'll see they're talking about two things: (1) how to support Ron Paul, and (2) how to destroy Herman Cain.

The plan seems to be to highlight Herman Cain's time with the Federal Reserve Bank; portraying it as an evil institution bent on taking over the world along with its Illuminati masters (and no, I'm not being sarcastic; I've seen a number of these posts mention both the Federal Reserve and the Illuminati).

Now for the typical Ron Paul supporter (as well as the fans of George Noory's "Coast to Coast" radio show) this is a powerful argument. But to non-Paul supporters (the 99.8657% of Americans who don't know the correct procedure for folding a tin-foil hat), it doesn't come across as negative at all. In fact, it comes across as a huge positive for Herman Cain.

Without the (unintended) help of Ron Paul's supporters, Herman Cain would still be fighting the stereotype that he's just a "pizza man." But now, he's know across the internet as an expert on the Federal Reserve System, the nation's money supply, macro-economics, and national/international finance. Given that the biggest challenges facing the next president will be financial, this kind of knowlege and experience will be a huge plus for any candidate--again, at lest in the minds most voters (the 99.8657% of voters that are not Ron Paul supporters).

Are the attacks on Herman Cain by Ron Paul supporters actually helping Cain? Yes they are, because they have exposed something about Herman Cain to the public that most people didn't know about--that he has an impressive background at the highest level of fianance.

Has the Political Annihilation of Mitt Romney Begun?

2011-05-15T07:22:00.000-07:00

I'm not prone to conspiracy theories, but it seems as though we seeing the beginnings of a concerted effort by the GOP establishment to eliminate Mitt Romney from the GOP field?

The Wall Street Journal published a scathing piece about Romney titled Obama's Running Mate and followed it up with and article called Romney's Daredevil Act. Scathing is an understatement. By any measure, these were full, frontal assaults on Mitt Romney with only one purpose: derail his 2012 candidacy before it gets started.

National Review Online (which endorsed Romney last time around) published an article by the Editors titled Power Point Failure that was every bit as damning to Romney as the WSJ articles. They have also been an outlet for a number of anti-Romney editorials, including the recent op-ed by Mark Steyn titled Romney's Fix.

The Wall Street Journal and The National Review tend to be GOP “insider” publications. Meaning they have better access to the party's power brokers, and be friendly to the ideas and positions coming from inside the GOP establishment. By any measure Mitt Romney—the presumptive favorite of the GOP establishment and power brokers—should have publications like the WSJ and NRO in his corner, and we should be seeing articles that are somewhat friendly towards Romney. But we're not.

Instead, we're seeing these publications attack Romney with a force that is unprecedented (for a GOP candidate anyway). This implies a larger question: has the GOP party establishment (the national office holders and party insiders) made a decision about Romney—that they can't win with him in 2012 (not just the presidency, but the down-ticket races as well), and they need to get him out of the way now? It's certainly starting to look that way.

The 2011 Budget Compromise

2011-04-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Above is a graph showing exactly what was cut from the budget by the big budget compromise of 2011. That little yellow line at the bottom of the chart represents the $38 billion cut from the budget. That is what all the yelling and screaming was about.

According to the Democrats, if we cut that yellow line out of the budget, the elderly would starve, schools across the country would close, and the world would soon face economic and social collapse.

According to the Republicans, cutting that yellow line out of the budget was a huge victory. They have set us upon the path to fiscal solvency.

This chart demonstrates that neither the Democrats or Republicans are correct. The budget cuts amounted to nothing; literally a drop of water in the ocean. Nothing has really changed.

The GOP establishment and conservative pundits wonder why we're upset over this budget compromise. The should be asking themselves why they ever thought we wouldn't be upset.

Red Rain Newspaper Draft Info 2011, Ultra-Backs and the Bulge

2011-04-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Introduction

I don’t attempt to determine who the Falcons should take based on their needs. I instead scour the internet for reports on which players the Falcons have actually been looking at. I pay special attention to interviews with players where the reporter asks “which teams are interested in you” and the player replies “the Falcons.”

Make a list of those players; their positions; and the round they are likely to be drafted in, throw in some intuition and common sense, and you’ve got a pretty good outline of the Falcons draft plans.

The players the Falcons are scouting suggest breaking the draft up into four sections.

The Early Section: The entire 1st round and the first half of the 2nd round.
The Bulge section: From the mid-2nd round through the end of the 4th round.
The Fifth Section: The 5th round.
The Late Section: The 6th & 7th rounds plus undrafted free agents.

I've named one area "the bulge," because:

The Falcons are spending a lot of time on players that should go in this area.
It would take more picks to address all the positions being scouted in this area than the Falcons currently hold.

Which brings up the obvious question: why are the Falcons spending so much time on this area of the draft?

Breakdown by Position

Quarterback

The Falcons are getting a QB. Everyone they are looking at is in the late section. The one exception is Colin Kapernick of Nevada, but I believe he is an outlier. When the Falcons were showing interest in him, he was a late pick on most boards. Since then he has moved pretty high in the draft.

Running Back

They are focused on fast, scat back types--smaller guys with tremendous speed (5-8 to 5-11, 180-195 lbs, sub 4.4/40). They are looking at a few in the bulge, and a lot in the late section, but the sweet spot seems to be the fifth section.

The Falcons have also looked at a number of late section power backs. Guys like Anthony Allen (GA Tech), Mario Fannin (Auburn), and Corday Clark (McNeese St).

Clark is a bit of a special case. He isn’t a pure running back. In college he played WR, TE, and FB. His college career, skill set, and physical attributes are eerily similar to former Arkansas player Peyton Hillis. I’ve lumped him in with the power running backs, but Clark is a player that could be used in a number of ways (lest we forget, our offensive coordinator’s nickname was once “Inspector Gadget”).

Wide Receiver

It’s also no secret the Falcons are looking at wide receivers. The common attribute is raw speed. The guys they are looking at seem to be falling into two draft ranges: the bulge (late 2^nd to early 3^rd round), and late (6^th, 7^th, & UFA).

The guy getting the most talk is Troy’s Jerrel Jerrigan, who seems to be the prototype of what they are looking for. Great speed and a playmaker—in other words: explosive. The Falcons are all over the map when it comes to size and weight. They might draft a 6-2 guy or a 5-9 guy, but it will definitely be someone they consider explosive.

The sweet spot seems to be the Falcons' 2^nd round pick for this position.

I’m not sure if the Falcons are planning on drafting a WR in the bulge and one late, or if they are just hedging their bets by looking at late round receivers. My guess is that if nothing else they will bring in a number of receivers as UFA.

Tight End

The Falcons are scouting both receiving and blocking tight ends.

The receiving tight ends (tall, ~250 lbs, 4.5/50) are all in the bulge section, save for Kyle Rudolph (who is a special case I’ll discuss later). It looks like if the Falcons are targeting a 3^rd round pick on a receiving TE.

The blocking tight ends (shorter, ~280 lbs, 4.8/40) are all in the late section. They are also dominated by small school/obscure prospects. It seems the Falcons are trying to dig up a diamond here.

Offensive Line

I’ve lumped offensive line players together, because it makes sense to talk about them as a group. The Falcons have been looking at o-lineman in the early and late sections.

Let’s start with the late prospects. They are looking at multi position players—guys that could play center, guard, or tackle (its notable they are looking at several guys that played center in college—I’m not saying they want a center, just that they want someone versatile enough to play center). They are also scouting a number of small schools. You get the feeling that the Falcons are convinced they can dig up quality linemen in the late rounds, if they just look long and hard enough.

At the other end, they are looking at early tackle prospects. These are all guys that are likely to be gone by the 27^th pick. My guess is this represents more due diligence than interest on the Falcons part.

The outlier is Marcus Gilbert of Florida. He is a mid-round guy that the Falcons seem to really like a lot, but the way things are falling out, I can’t see how they can take him unless he drops. If Gilbert does drop, then they may forgo another position to get him.

Defensive End

We are putting an enormous amount of effort into scouting defensive ends. Every DE we have looked at is a possible for the 27^th pick. We’re not looking at any mid or late rounds prospects. This is the same thing we did last year, and I think it tells the same story.

Overall, we like the group of defensive ends on the roster as far as quality and depth.
We want to improve that group with an elite prospect.
We’ll only add a DE if they will improve the group we already have.

Defensive Tackle

I’m not sure what to make of the Falcons’ DT plans. They are looking at a number of late section defensive tackles that are more of the run-stopping, nose-tackle types. But then there are a couple of other players they have spent a lot of time scouting (and who both seem to think the Falcons like them a lot) that don’t really fit anywhere.

Stanford’s Sione Fua is a run stuffer like the late round picks, but will probably come off the board in the 4^th round (in the bulge).

USC’s Jurrell Casey is more of a penetrating rush DT (in the Babineaux mold) that will probably go in the 2^nd round.

My guess is the Falcons definitely want to take a run-stopping DT late. If Fua drops past the 4^th they may reshuffle things a little and draft him, otherwise they’ll get one of the other late guys they are targeting.

Casey just doesn’t seem to fit in any place. Are the Falcons going to take Casey with their 2^nd round pick? Probably not, yet they really seem to like him. My guess is Casey is a “Plan B” value pick. If the Falcons trade back out of the first and snag some extra picks they may grab him.

Linebacker

The interesting thing about the linebackers the Falcons are scouting is they all are listed as inside linebackers on draft sites—every one. However, I don’t think we’re looking at middle linebackers. Good speed, sideline-to-sideline player, and physical are in the description of each of them. I think we’re looking at strong side linebackers.

They are falling in two areas of the draft: the bulge section (3^rd & 4^th rounds) and late section (probably the 6^th). The Falcons haven’t scouted a huge number of these players, but they definitely have a short list they’re after.

UB (Ultra-Back)

ul·tra (ul′trə) - adjective - going beyond the usual limit

The Falcons seem to be scouting for a defensive back that doesn't fit any of the traditional definitions. They may have played cornerback or safety in college, but they have attributes that go beyond the usual limits of a NFL cornerback or safety.

Very tall (6 foot plus), good speed (4.5+ range), 195+ pound range (there are a couple of lighter players, but they are the exception to the rule), and good coverage skills all describe these players. Jalil Brown (CB, Colorado) and Chris Conte (S, Cal) are both examples of players we’ve looked at that fit the profile.

These attributes would make them versatile DBs that could handle any of the normal CB duties (covering receivers as a nickel or dime back) as well as the normal safety duties (dropping down to provide run support, blitzing, or dropping back to play free-safety). In particular, I think they are well suited to cover the larger receivers we have to face on a regular basis (like the Saints’ Jimmy Graham, the Bucs’ Mike Williams, or the Packers Jordy Nelson).

I’m not sure if they would be classified as a cornerback, nickel-back, free-safety, rover, or something else. For this purpose of this discussion I’m just calling them Ultra-Backs (UB).

We’re scouting guys primarily in the bulge section and a few in the late section for this position. Given the number of guys we’re scouting for this position, this is one of our top three priority positions (along with DE and WR) in the 2011 draft.

Cornerback

When you remove the cornerbacks that fit the ultra-back profile, then we’re really not looking at cornerbacks hard. It amounts to an early pick and a couple of later bulge guys. I’m beginning to think Miami’s Harris (the 1^st rounder) is a fallback guy in case we don’t like a DE at #27 and can’t trade back.

The other CBs we are looking at are all in the 3^rd or 4^th round range and are (in my opinion) legitimate candidates to drop down to the 5^th round. I’m guessing we looked at these guys in case they do just that, in which case we may take one as a value pick. I can’t really see us taking a traditional CB in the bulge given the number of other positions we’ve scouted in that area, unless we pick up some extra picks in the bulge section.

Safety

Like CB, when you eliminate safeties that fit the ultra-back profile, we’re really not scouting a lot of pure safeties either. If we take a pure safety, they will probably go late and be a physical, strong safety. We are scouting some small school guys here also.

Breakdown by Round (section)

I’m going to discuss pick #27 and the top half of the 2^nd round separately.

Early Section (1^stround—pick #27)

Defensive end, every other position is just a fallback. If we like a DE at #27, we’re taking them—period. The real question is: what do we do if we don’t like any of the defensive ends at #27?

Trade up. We’re scouting a number of DEs that should be gone by 27, but I’m not buying into the trade up scenario. We’re looking at too many other guys that would be solid value picks at #27 or in the early 2nd. That would imply that we’re planning on staying put (and hoping a DE falls to us) or moving down. I just don’t believe trading up is a valid scenario for the Falcons.
Value pick at #27. We’ve spent a lot of time looking at Miami CB Brandon Harris, and we’ve also scouted a number of offensive tackles that might drop to 27. Given how we’re not scouting these positions otherwise until the later rounds, you’ve got to think these are value picks. We could use them if we took them here, but they aren’t really a priority position. I think this is a valid scenario,
Stretch for a player we might be able to get in the early 2^nd. If we can’t trade down, and there isn’t a value pick at #27, then we’ll have to take someone (see player list below)

Early Section (Top half of the 2^nd,trade down scenario)

We’re looking at a number of players that would be a stretch at pick #27, but will probably be long gone by pick #59. Coincidently, the positions are all positions we’re scouting later in the draft.

UB Aaron Williams, Texas
WR Leonard Hankerson, Miami
RB (scat) Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech
TE Kyle Rudolph, Notre Dame
DE Several defensive ends such as Sam Acho, Texas
DT Jurrell Casey, USC

The Falcons have covered their bases if they need to trade down.

The Bulge Section (late 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th round picks)

We’ve got three picks in this area. Strangely, there seem to be four primary positions we scouting in this range (WR, UB, TE, and LB), as well as three secondary positions (scat RB, O-line, and DT).

If we stand pat with three picks in this section, we’ll probably go WR, UB, and TE in some order. If we acquire a fourth pick in this section it will probably be used on a linebacker.

I believe we’re scouting the secondary positions in case those players fall to the 5^th round.

The Fifth Round Section (5^th)

I’ve come to think of this as the running back round, as it seems the optimal time to pick up a scat-back running back. A number of the players we’ve been looking at fall naturally here, and we’ve scouted a couple of players that just above that have a reasonable chance of falling into the 5^th.

There is also the chance we could take an offensive lineman or defensive tackle here, if one of the bulge’s secondary players should drop.

The Late Section (6^th & three 7^th round picks)

We’ll probably take a linebacker with the 6^th unless we acquire an extra pick in the bulge or one of the bulge’s linebackers drops into the 5^th.

Besides linebacker, we’ve looked at QB, DT, O-Line, WR, power RB, scat RB, blocking TE, a pass catching TE, UB, and SS in this section. Obviously, with only four picks in this range, we can’t draft every one of those positions, but it does give us some idea of the positions they’ll be looking to bring in as undrafted free agents (if the labor dispute ever gets settled).

Draft Scenarios

If we stay pat at #27, the probable order of picks is:

1: DE, CB, or OT
2: WR
3: TE
4: UB
5: Scat RB
6: LB
7: QB, O-Line, DT or Power RB or SS

A sample mock under this scenario would be:

1: DE - Justin Houston - UGA
2: WR - Jerrel Jerrigan - Troy
3: TE - Virgil Green - Nevada
4: UB - Robert Sands - WV
5: RB - Derrick Locke - Kentucky
6: LB - Mike Mohammed - Cal
7: QB - Adam Froman - Lousiville
7: OL - John Gianninoto - UNLV
7: DT - Frank Kearse - Alabama A&M

If we trade out of the first for a 2^nd rounder and future picks (no additional picks in this draft, the probably order of picks is:

Picks 2a, 2b, 3, & 4: some combination of WR, TE, UB, & LB
5: Scat RB
6: O-Line or DT
7: QB, O-line or DT, Power RB or SS

A sample mock under this scenario would be:

2: TE - Kyle Rudolph - Notre Dame
2: WR - Titus Young - Boise St.
3: LB - Quann Sturdivant - North Carolina
4: UB - Jalil Brown - Colorado
5: RB - Da'Rel Scott - Maryland
6: OL - Zack Hurd - UConn
7: QB - Adam Webber - Minnesota
7: RB - Mario Fannin - Auburn
7: DT - Nate Frazier - North Alabama

If we trade out of the first for a 2^nd rounder and pick up another pick in the bulge (say a 4^th rounder), the probably order of picks is:

Picks 2a, 2b, 3, 4a, & 4b: some combination of WR, TE, UB, LB, & RB or O-Line or DT.
5: RB or O-Line or DT
6: O-Line or DT
7: QB, Power RB, SS

A sample mock under this scenario would be:

2: UB - Aaron Williams - Texas
2: WR - Jerrel Jerrigan - Troy
3: TE - Jordan Cameron - USC
4: RB - Kendall Hunter - OK St.
4: LB - Colin McCarthy - Miami
5: DT - Sione Fua - Stanford
6: OL - Colin Baxter - Arizona
7: QB - TJ Yates - North Carolina
7: RB - Corday Clark - McNesse St.
7: SS - Jeron Johnson - Boise St

Saving Money With Phone Line Replacements Part 1: XLink

2011-02-27T08:21:00.001-08:00

At one time, having a dedicated land-line phone in your house was a requirement. Like heat or air conditioning, every house had it. With the advent of cell phones I have found it impossible to justify the cost of keeping a land-line phone—I just don't use it that much anymore. When you include taxes, the minimum cost of having a land-line phone in the house (in my state) is $45 a month ($540 ayear). I only used the land-line phone for 5-10 calls a month, which worked out to be over $5 per call.

I thought about getting a land-line phone through my cable company. At $30 a month it was a savings over the phone company, but it still worked out to be at least $3 a call. So I dumped my land-line and went just with my cell phone. This has met all my needs, but it has added a few inconveniences:

I despise carrying my cell phone with me when I'm at home (at home I want to kick back and relax).
I don't want to race across the house to answer my cell phone.
I often don't hear the cell phone across the house and miss calls.
My spouse complains about inconveniences 1, 2, & 3.

So I've started looking for for someway to solve these problems (without paying out the wazoo). I've come up with several. I'm going to discuss the first one now: the XLink phone box.

In a nutshell, this box lets you use all the old style land-line phones in your house to talk over your cell phone.

The XLink box is a bluetooth device. It communicates with your cell phone the same way those fancy cell phone earpieces work. That is a big point in its favor. Even though this box is new, it is based on old, stable technology.

I'm not going to go into detailed setup, other then to say it was easy and straightforward.

This box plugs into one of your wall phone jacks like you would a regular telephone. When you enter your house, just set your cell phone down next to it and you're done. You do not have to plug your cell phone into the XLink box (when your cell phone comes into range—about 30 paces away for me—the cell phone and XLink box will automaticaly connect via bluetooth).

At this point, when someone calls your cell phone all the phones in the house ring. When you pick up one of the house phones it has a dial tone, and you can can call just by dialing the number.

Advantages:

It has solved inconveniences 1, 2, 3, & 4 above.
Receiving calls has been seamless. It rings every phone in the house (including some 30 year old phones that have the old style bell ringer on them).
Making calls works just like with the old land line.
You can register up to three phones with it. So not only my cell phone, but my spouse's cell phone will work with it at the same time.

Disadvantages:

The voice quality is not as good as the land-line. I understand from talking to others that it is a pretty typical bluetooth quality. It's not a problem for me, but I can see how it would be a problem for others.
Bluetooth is a battery hog. If your cell phone battery goes dead, then you lose your phone service. We solved this by plugging our phones into a charger, but it's still a pain.
You don't have a permanent “home” number that will always ring the phones in your house. Although one person did point out that the cost to add an extra phone to their cell phone plan was $10 a month, so you could do that and just leave that cell phone next to the XLink unit all the time—still much cheaper than a regular land-line.
When dialing out, there isn't a way to tell the box which cell phone to dial out on. A problem if you have multiple cell phones simultaneously linked up with the box.

The cost of the unit is $99 on the XLink web site, but runs $80 on Amazon. It pays for itself in two months. After that it saves you $540 a year.

There are other similar devices out there, but this is the one I have so it's the one I'm talking about. The others may be better or they may be worse, I don't have any experience with them, so I leave it to others to discuss them.

Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, and Presidential Qualifications

2010-12-18T14:25:00.000-08:00

Mitt Romney, Herman Cain, and Presidential Qualifications

I have heard that Herman Cain is mulling over a run for the presidency. I know him from a local radio station, and while there are few things I disagree with Herman Cain on when it comes to politics, I did pause and wonder if a radio host would be qualified to be president. I also wondered, what makes someone qualified to be president? Why is someone like Mitt Romney (the consensus front runner for the GOP nomination) universally accepted as being qualified? So, I did a comparison between Mitt Romney and Herman Cain.

Childhood and Family Background

Mitt Romney

Romney was raised in an upper class family. His father, George W. Romney, was chairman of American Motors, governor of Michigan, and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Richard Nixon. He ran for president in 1968. Romney attended Cranbrook School, an elite private boarding school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Herman Cain

Cain was raised in a lower class family. His father was the child of a Tennessee farmer and moved to Atlanta in 1943 at the age of 18 with, as Cain descries it, “literally just the clothes on his back..” Cain's father worked multiple jobs (chauffeur, barber, janitor) to make ends, and Cain's mother worked as a maid. Herman Cain attended public school.

Comparison

In this area, Romney and Cain couldn't be more different, but does it matter? We've had children of the rich and powerful that have become president, and we've had children of the underprivileged become president. Based on their backgrounds, both seem equally qualified.

Education

Mitt Romney

Bachelors in English - Brigham Young University
Masters in Business - Harvard
JD (law degree) - Harvard Law School

Herman Cain

Bachelors in Mathematics - Morehouse College
Masters in Computer Science - Purdue University

Comparison

Both men are well educated. Romney's education does come closer to the stereotype of “lawyers as politicians,” but like a lot of stereotypes it isn't true. Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Lyndon Johnson had no more than a bachelor's degree, and their majors were physics, government, economics (Bush & Reagan), and education. Based on their education, both Romney and Cain are qualified to be president.

Work Experience

Mitt Romney

Joined Boston Consulting Group upon graduation from college, and worked as a consultant to multiple businesses. In 1977 joined consulting group Bain & Company where he continued his career as a management consultant.

In 1984 was chosen to head up Bain & Company spin-off Bain Capital, an investment firm that specialized in leveraged buyouts.

He was president of Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002.

Herman Cain

He worked as a mathematician for the Navy, a business analyst for Coca-Cola, and VP of corporate systems and services (information technology) for Pillsbury.

Cain changed careers in mid-life and moved to Pillsbury's restaurant division (Burger King). Managed 400 restaurants, then became chairman of the Godfather's Pizza chain.

He served on the board of the National Restaurant Association in 1994-1995, and was the the association's president in 1996.

Herman Cain was the Chairman of The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City from 1995 to 1996.

Herman Cain has served on the board of directors of Nabisco, Creighton University, SuperValu, UtiliCorp United, AGCO, The Georgia Chamber of Commerce, Morehouse College, Whirlpool, Hallmark, Aquila, and The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Recently has hosted radio program on WSB in Atlanta.

Comparison

Both men have impressive business backgrounds. You could make the argument that Herman Cain is more qualified in this area, given the diversity of positions he has held, but the bottom line is both men are more qualified in this area than 95% of recent presidential candidates.

Writings

Mitt Romney

2004 - Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games
2010 - No Apology: The Case for American Greatness

Herman Cain

1999 - Speak as a Leader
2000 - Leadership is Common Sense
2001 – CEO of Self: You Are in Charge
2005 - They Think You're Stupid: Why Democrats Lost Your Vote and What Republicans Must Do to Keep It

Comparison

Both men have written books that have been well reviewed. If book authorship was a criteria for running for president, Herman Cain would certainly be as qualified as Mitt Romney.

Elected Political Office

Mitt Romney

1994 - Ran for US Senate in Mass. Lost to Ted Kennedy receiving 41% of vote).
2002 - Elected Governor of Mass. (49% of vote). Served one 4 year term.
2008 - Ran for president. Received 22% of votes in GOP primary.

Herman Cain

2004 - Ran for US Senate in GA. Received 26% of vote in GOP primary.

Comparison

Here is a clear cut difference between the two men. Mitt Romney has held elected office, and Herman Cain hasn't. But does that make Romney qualified to be president and Herman Cain unqualified? Two facts would argue against coming to that conclusion.

Firstly, several presidents never held elected office prior to being elected president. Eisenhower, Hoover, Taft, Grant, Taylor, and Washington never held elected office prior to taking the presidential oath of office.

Secondly, from a conservative perspective, Mitt Romney's stint as Governor of Massachusetts was a disaster. Numerous conservatives have pointed to Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts as proof that he is unqualified to be president.

1. Romney signed state health care into law (RomneyCare, the model for ObamaCare).

2. Romney raised taxes by $740 million. Now there is a lot of spin surrounding this, with claims that these were not tax increases, but rather fees and closed loopholes. Instead of getting into pointless arguments over semantics, we'll just use a phrase that covers everything: forked-over. There is no arguing that as Governor, Romney caused the people and businesses of Massachusetts to fork-over to the state an additional $740 million.

3. During Romney's term as governor (a period when the rest of the country was experiencing significant economic growth) the economy of Massachusetts shrunk. As the Boston Globe put it: "We were one of only two states to have experienced no growth in its resident labor force. Again, without the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina on the dispersal of the Louisiana population, Massachusetts would have ranked last on this measure."

4. As governor, Romney failed as a leader. Again, quoting the Boston Globe: "Real world experience has shown that a governor is limited in his power to influence the course of economic development in a state. A full-time governor who is deeply committed to the economic well-being of a state's workers can, however, make some difference. The state unfortunately did not receive such leadership over most of the past four years."

5. Romney failed to build public support within the state for conservative ideas while in office. Rather than run for reelection, Romney had to leave office after only one term because of a mere 30% approval rating from voters.

To be fair, Mitt Romney has said being governor taught him much, and there is no doubt that Romney's political positions have become significantly more conservative since that time. In fact, his political positions changed so much that the are now very close to Herman Cain's. Which brings up an interesting question: if the main benefit Romney received from his experience as governor was to make him more like Herman Cain, why would this experience make him any more qualified to be president than Herman Cain?

When you consider that several presidents never held previous elected office, and the main benefit of holding office on Mitt Romney was to make him more like Herman Cain, you can't hold out Romney's single term as governor and Cain's lack of elected office experience as a reason that Romney is more qualified to be president than Herman Cain.

Conclusion

I started out asking a simple question: if Mitt Romney is universally acknowledged to be qualified to be president, why isn't Herman Cain? After examining their lives as a whole, I've come to the conclusion that if you consider Mitt Romney qualified to be president, you would also have to grant that Herman Cain is qualified to be president.

Of course, if after examining the evidence you still don't believe Herman Cain is qualified to be president, then you would have to also conclude that Mitt Romney is not qualified to be president. The only significant difference in their resumes is Romney's four year stint as governor of Massachusetts—a governorship that was, from a conservative perspective, an absolute disaster. Mitt Romney was not a success as governor, and it would be pure spin to say otherwise.

Herman Cain and Mitt Romney, two candidates with qualifications that so closely track each other that you can't declare one qualified to be president, without declaring the other to be qualified. Conversely, if one is unqualified, then logically they are both unqualified. Their backgrounds parallel each other too closely to come to any other conclusion.