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More predictions of an Obama departure; and a discussion on Herman Cain
Dick Morris repeats his point that there’s a “good chance” that if Obama’s popularity remains low come January, he will do a Lyndon Johnson and pull out of the presidential race. Morris also thinks that former president Clinton, with Hillary’s ok, is deliberately undermining Obama so as to set up Hillary as his replacement.
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Jim C. writes:
Why would Hillary want to run? She’d be creamed with the putrid malt of Hillarycare.
LA replies:
While Romney, assuming he’s the GOP nominee, would be creamed with the putrid malt (whatever being creamed with putrid malt means) of Romneycare. All those creamings would cancel each other out.
Jim C. continues: Another point: I still maintain that Obama wants to use his ‘12 campaign as his last hurrah against Mr. Honkie. Obama knows his career is over, so he’ll want to enjoy himself—and what better way for a community organizer to enjoy himself than calling Mr. Honkie a racist.
Jim C. writes:
Geez, Zippy’s job approval rate is now 58 percent—among blacks!
LA replies:
To sound like Ed Koch, that’s riDICulous.
I saw another poll today, at an Israeli news site, that said that Obama’s approval rating among Jews was down to 45 percent. Which is also riDICulous. That would mean that his approval rating among Jews is basically the same as the low rating he’s had among voters in general for the last year and a half. I just don’t believe that. I think there’s some anti-Obama fever in the air at the moment which is making it seem that it’s even worse for him than it really is.
Sophia A. writes:
I think Obama’s presidency is unraveling. Over the summer I visited friends and relatives in the real America, and I was shocked not only at his unpopularity, but at the sneering contempt most of the people I encountered felt—not only for him but for the whole political class. Remember: he never did win the majority of the white vote.
It is difficult to compare his unraveling with that of Nixon, Johnson, and Bush the elder, because the press will never turn against Obama, not en masse and with gloating enthusiasm, as they would against a white politician. Even Bill Clinton during his impeachment got much harsher press than Obama, who is presiding over the implosion of the U.S. economy. But I do think it is happening. [LA replies: That’s a very interesting point, that because of the media’s devotion of Obama, we do not see the true degree of his unraveling, as we would with another (non-black) president.]
So that creates opportunities for Romney. But let’s not kid ourselves: a Romney presidency may stave off complete collapse and for that, I will vote for him. I need my medications, too, as you do.
But politics is the art of the possible and only that. Our culture is in a deep state of decay and corruption. A Romney presidency won’t arrest that process one bit. On the contrary, the forces of insanity will be emboldened by being in opposition. They’ll go, well, totally Bolshevik. Perhaps this might be a good thing. I want them to show their true colors.
LA replies:
Your last point is an argument against a Romney presidency, similar to the argument I made against a McCain presidency on the eve of the 2008 election. What you are suggesting is that a Romney presidency would make the left more aggressive and furious than ever, and that Romney, lacking conservative fiber, would end up yielding to the left in all kinds of ways, leading to a more liberal result than if there had been a Democratic president.
Jim C. writes:
Cain leader in Zogby poll
LA replies:
RiDICulous!
Here is a Dick Morris interview with Cain. I admit there’s something fresh and engaging about him, personality-wise, though I’m not crazy about his African-American speech patterns. (Remember, Obama was seen as presidential material precisely because he lacked such speech patterns.) But substantively there’s nothing about Cain that stands out from the current orthodoxy. For example he completely accepts our current wars, doesn’t question the logic of them at all, just wants us to hold the course. (Just as Bachmann completely supports the Afghan enterprise.)
And what does stand out from current orthodoxy is off the wall. We form an alliance with Israel, so that any enemy of Israel’s is ours? That’s never been U.S. policy, and Israel wouldn’t want it either.
Jim C. replies:
I agree, but one thing that is fascinating about life is its unpredictability. Let’s wait and see: Cain is no punk, and he comes across very well.
I met Koch at an art opening and suggested “I Like the Kike” (remember “I Like Ike”?) as a button concept. He couldn’t stop laughing.
LA replies:
Well, you can’t get more unpredictable than the sight of Goliath of Texas, having entered the race and instantly become the front runner, just as instantly showing that he has feet of clay and blowing it, and suddenly Cain, a non-politician whose previous major experience was as the head of a pizza company and whom no one had taken seriously, suddenly winning that huge victory in the Florida straw poll and going to the top of opinion polls.
Gintas writes:
” … Cain, a non-politician whose previous major experience was as the head of a pizza company … “
Laura Wood, a single-issue voter when it comes to pizza, would never vote for him.
LA replies:
Laura would insist that this is a typical unfair caricature of her views on pizza.
Paul Nachman writes:
I’d already watched the Morris interview and was reasonably impressed with Cain while substantially disagreeing with a lot of what he favors. I’d like to see a video of an interview with Wonderboy at the same stage in the process for comparison—would I have been snookered by Wonderboy, thereby implying vulnerability to being snookered by Cain, too?
I think his background is more impressive than you allow. From Wikipedia:
Background
Cain was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 13, 1945, the son of Lenora (née Davis) and Luther Cain, Jr.[6][7] His mother was a cleaner and his father was a chauffeur.[3] He was raised in Georgia.[8] He graduated from Morehouse College in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and received a Master of Science degree in computer science from Purdue University in 1971,[9] while he was also working full-time in ballistics for the U.S. Department of the Navy. Cain has authored four books: Leadership is Common Sense (1997),Speak as a Leader (1999), CEO of SELF (October 2001), and They Think You’re Stupid (May 2005). He also authored an article titled “The Intangibles of Implementation” in the technical journal Interfaces (Vol. 9, No. 5, 1979, pp. 144-147), published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).
Business career
After completing his master’s degree from Purdue, Cain left the Department of the Navy and began working for The Coca-Cola Company as a business analyst. In 1977, he joined Pillsbury where he rose to the position of Vice President by the early 1980s. He left his executive post to work for Burger King—a Pillsbury subsidiary at the time—managing 400 stores in the Philadelphia area. Under Cain’s leadership, his region went from the least profitable for Burger King to the most profitable in three years. This prompted Pillsbury to appoint him President and CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, another of their then-subsidiaries. Within 14 months, Cain had taken Godfather’s Pizza from 911 stores down to 420 stores and reduced costs significantly. As a result of his efforts Godfather’s Pizza finally became profitable. In a leveraged buyout in 1988, Cain, Executive Vice-President and COO Ronald B. Gartlan and a group of investors bought Godfather’s from Pillsbury. Cain continued as CEO until 1996, when he was asked to resign by the board. Later that year he became CEO of the National Restaurant Association—a trade group and lobby organization for the restaurant industry—where he had previously been chairman concurrently with his role at Godfather’s.[10]
Cain became a member of the board of directors to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1992 and served as its chairman from January 1995 to August 1996, when he resigned to become active in national politics.[11] Cain was a 1996 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award.[12]
Cain was on the board of directors of Aquila, Inc. from 1992 to 2008, and also served as a board member for Nabisco, Whirlpool, Reader’s Digest, and AGCO, Inc
Being on all those boards seems worthwhile to me, especially the Federal Reserve. But I hadn’t seen before that he’d been asked to resign from Godfather’s.
I noted in the Morris interview that Cain had minored in physics to go with his math major. Altogether a serious guy.
Anyway, if he’s the Repub nominee, I’d certainly vote for him, rather than sitting this one out.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 27, 2011 04:10 PM | Send
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