by Herman Cain
Or maybe it was because, after asking the crowd, “Remember when the president joked during a discussion about illegal immigration: ‘What do the Republicans want? Do they want a moat, with alligators?’ I said to the crowd, ‘Yes! Bring on the alligators! And make it a real big moat!’”
Maybe it’s because I told the crowd that when I heard a liberal reporter say, “That’s so uncompassionate,” I said, “I don’t think it’s uncompassionate. If they can get into the moat and get over my fence, which is going to be twenty feet high, and they can outswim the alligators, I’d give them a job! It wasn’t compassionate when they killed some of our agents on the borders. It’s not compassionate when they kill ranchers on the border. It’s not compassionate when you sue Arizona! They ought to be giving Arizona a prize! Stay tuned for ‘Herman’s Moat.’”
I always welcome that kind of interruption, but I was astounded a few days later, when one of the people traveling with my campaign that week who had witnessed those interruptions emailed Mark: “Do you know how many times Mr. Cain’s speech was actually interrupted with applause? Forty-five times!”
I kid you not.
Then on Sunday, June 12, 2011, I was writing my weekly commentary, entitled “Watch and Hope Won’t Work”—now they’re saying the economy is going to get better, but it’s not going to get better—and when I checked the number of words, I discovered that it came to 645!
Now, as I was writing my commentary, I didn’t say: I’m going to hit 645. It just turned out to be 645 words and I said, “Mark, this is it! I’m not changing a word!”
More recently, in July 2011, when I was in Las Vegas to deliver a speech at the Conservative Leadership Conference, a couple came up to me when I was walking through a hotel lobby and said that they recognized me, that they knew I was running for president. Then they told me why they were in Las Vegas. They were there to celebrate their forty-fifth wedding anniversary!
That isn’t all: Next year will be the forty-fifth anniversary of my college graduation. And in 2013, my first year in the White House, Gloria and I will be celebrating our forty-fifth wedding anniversary.
I’m not a devout numerologist, but my mathematical training does cause me to recognize when numbers appear more than coincidentally.
Isn’t it amazing how often 45 keeps popping up in my life?
10
The Cain doctrine
I have set the LORD always before me: for he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
—Psalm 16:8
As any student of American history knows, in the nineteenth century we had the Monroe Doctrine, because our new nation’s fifth president found it necessary to warn European powers not to intervene in the Western Hemisphere.
In the twentieth century we had the Truman Doctrine, because our thirty-third president was so alarmed at cold war aggression that he found it necessary to declare the United States’ support of people throughout the world who were resisting armed oppressors.
Now in the twenty-first century, after having given much thought to identifying the crucial domestic and foreign policy issues of this era and developing what is, essentially, a common sense approach to fixing the mess besetting this great nation of ours, the time has come for me, as the forty-fifth commander in chief, to enunciate to the American people my doctrine: the Cain Doctrine.
Unlike its predecessor doctrines, which dealt solely with demanding that foreign powers keep their hands off places where they had no business being, the Cain Doctrine also takes on the critical domestic issues of today and provides my scenario for righting the lapses of the Obama administration. These lapses, if not resolved, will continue to threaten both our great nation’s economic future and international security.
The domestic issues section of the Cain Doctrine grew out of my experience in the corporate world, where I learned about the impact of taxes on business and on individuals. That’s when I started to figure out that the Democrats wanted to tax you and regulate you and the Republicans wanted to lower taxes and reduce regulations.
Before that, I was like everybody else: You don’t know what your ideology is; you just get an impression of a candidate over the course of a campaign and you say, “I like this person so I’m going to vote for him.” And I did the same thing: I liked Ronald Reagan, so I voted for him. But I never got deeply into politics.
It was only when I became president of Godfather’s Pizza, Inc., that I really started to pay attention. Now, as I campaign for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, my Domestic Cain Doctrine is as follows:
Energy: I would never go to a foreign country, loan them money, and then tell them we’ll be their best customer. Under provisions of the Cain Doctrine, we, America, will be our own best customer.
Immigration: It must occur legally, through the front door, not the side door or the back door. And as for the underlying, acute problem—the illegal entrants themselves—the way to deal with them is to do what the federal government can’t, or won’t, do: empower the states to resolve their individual situations. In other words: Don’t sue Arizona—award that state a prize!
But one of the basic reasons for Washington’s inability to deal with illegal immigration, as with so many other problems, is the federal government’s inability to micromanage anything. I defy anybody to come up with one example of successful federal micromanaging.
The good news is that I have a plan: Secure our borders—remember that deep moat? Enforce laws already on the books and facilitate the path to citizenship. We don’t need a new path, one is already in place. We should recognize that there are no so-called undocumented workers in this country—these people are here illegally. After all, have you ever heard anyone say, “I’m an undocumented bank robber?”
Abortion: While I view abortion in the gravest possible moral and ethical terms and I want to defund Planned Parenthood, there is confusion about where I stand on the issue. I can say with certainty that I am prolife, although certain sectors of the public and the media don’t think that I am. And that’s likely because when the Susan B. Anthony Association asked all presidential candidates to sign their 2012 Pro-Life Presidential Leadership Pledge, I did not agree to do so.
Why not, given my prolife stance?
Because when I received the text of the pledge, I did something that most people don’t do: I actually read it! And I even agreed with everything in it, that is, except for the last requirement, which concerns a proposed “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.”
While I could favor the act itself, with further clarification, there is one word in the pledge related to it that I could never agree to because signers are called upon to “advance” that particular piece of legislation. As president, I simply would not have the constitutional power to act in that manner. I would be able to support, but not advance legislation. Thus I simply could not sign on to something that violates my understanding of the powers inherent in the presidency.
And I wasn’t going to sign the pledge just to avoid negative publicity. I don’t want to promise things that I cannot do. Of course, if the Susan B. Anthony Association had been willing to change the word “advance” to “support,” I would gladly have been on board.
While my stand on the matter did engender some negative comments, when I spoke at the National Right to Life convention a few days after the issue erupted, I received several standing ovations. And that’s because the delegates did not have a problem with my not signing the pledge. They knew my position on the right to life issue. They knew that I am prolife.
Now, as for the Cain Doctrine’s position on the most crucial and troubling issue challenging America’s well-being today, the economy, we must pursue a two-phase approach.
Phase One, in four parts: First, lower tax rates, both corporate and personal—we’re the only country in the world that has not lowered its top corporate tax rate in fifteen years—and I would go with the recommendation in Paul Ryan’s plan; take the top corporate tax rate from
35 percent to 25 percent and lower the top personal income tax rate as well.
Second, take the capital gains tax to zero—that will help to stimulate the generation of cash for small businesses.
Third, suspend taxes on repatriated foreign profits; we’ve got nearly $3 trillion that have been generated by multinational corporations and the money is offshore. And if we suspend taxes on it, much of it will come back home. When Bush did this in 2003, nearly $350 billion came back into this economy. It’s now estimated that as much as $3 trillion could come back, according to Eric Bolling of Fox Business News.
Fourth, give a real payroll tax holiday to workers, as well as to the employers; instead of that piddling 2 percent that the administration and Congress passed at the end of 2010, do the full 6.2 percent for a year for the employees and the employers.
Then put a bow around these ideas—that is, with the exception of the payroll tax—and make them permanent. That’s called an “Economic Boost”—in other words, America’s economy takes off when you allow workers and businesses to keep more of the money they generate, rather than raising taxes and then going through that government filter, which doesn’t give anything back to the public and doesn’t stimulate the economy.
Phase Two: Replace the entire tax code with the Fair Tax. I’ve had a lot of feedback from folks: “That can’t be done. It’s too difficult.” My answer to them is: “If you think that way, you don’t know much about Herman Cain. I don’t avoid doing something because it’s going to be hard to do it. I do it because it is the right thing to do.”
But I do understand people’s reservations concerning the Fair Tax, and that’s why I would not attempt to pass the necessary legislation in my first two years in office. For now, we’ve got to educate more people and counter the demagoguery that goes out there whenever I talk about the Fair Tax.
With Phase One and Phase Two, we could supercharge this economy, and we won’t even have to look back at China, which right now is gaining on us.
We need to take these bold steps to get this economy moving again and not the small steps that President Obama and some of the other Democrats keep talking about.
The revolving door resignation of at least four of President Obama’s senior economic advisers is a prime example of the fact that his administration lacks real leadership. And the problem did not lie with the advisers, but with President Obama. It’s his problem, because he has not developed sound economic policy, so it doesn’t matter who he appoints to senior positions.
We have the capacity to grow this economy a lot more than it’s growing, but we simply don’t have the leadership to get it done. I happen to believe that that’s what we need to do. And, more important, I believe that we can do it.
Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid: We can, and we must, take this entitlement society to an empowerment society. When I talk about really being serious about cutting costs, some people say to me: “You just can’t do that!”
Why not? Some people told me I couldn’t survive cancer, but I did! Other people said I couldn’t turn Godfather’s Pizza, Inc., around, but it’s still going! Okay, I admit I can’t break 80 on a golf course, but you’ve got to understand that I’m not perfect.
Foreign policy issues: My critics claim that I have had no “hands on” foreign policy experience, having been a mere business leader these many decades.
Well, I may not have been around Washington all these years to help those insiders deal with all of the complexities of the dangerous world we live in, but I can declare with certainty that I know enough about the importance of supporting one’s allies, especially in this age of international terrorism and despotism, to know that you don’t throw your faithful friends under the bus.
I’m referring to Israel, and I can tell you what the Cain Doctrine would be: If you mess with Israel, you’re messing with the United States of America. Is that clear?
I’ve been following the situation in the Middle East for decades now and I was shocked that on May 19, 2011, President Obama wrongheadedly betrayed America’s most steadfast ally in that region with his arrogant demand for the sovereign nation’s return to its pre-1967 Six Day War borders.
First of all, a move like that would threaten Israel’s security; embolden those countries in the Middle East that are trying to intimidate Israel into just going away. It would also destabilize the whole region.
Second, Israel is an ally of ours, and if some major conflict were to break out in that part of the world, we would need its assistance militarily, in terms of being a conduit for supplies, fuel, and other combat-related resources. And if it ever came to pass that the great relationship we now have with Israel was eroded, not only would our staunch ally become very vulnerable, but we would lose our capability in the entire Middle East. Even worse, America’s reputation for supporting its friends would be gone.
So should the Obama administration do everything in its power to maintain and nurture our great relationship with Israel?
My answer is an unequivocal “Yes!”
But is the Obama administration doing that?
My response is an emphatic “No!”
And that’s not what we the people want. I can tell you that everywhere I go as I campaign for my party’s presidential nomination, people are still in shock over President Obama’s demand for Israel to revert to its 1967 borders.
Why?
Because, like me, they are unabashedly pro-Israel.
For instance, on Friday, May 20, 2011, the day after President Obama’s ultimatum to Israel, I was in Council Bluffs, Iowa, speaking at the Pottawattamie County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Reagan Day Dinner, and every time I mentioned my support for Israel, the attendees stood up and cheered and applauded.
So why doesn’t President Obama get it?
Why doesn’t he realize the strategic nature of Israel’s current borders and that their inward movement would enable Israel’s enemies to lob weapons at them, as they did from Lebanon several years ago.
And why is this president not aware of another bad thing resulting from what he has done to Israel, namely that our other allies around the world are now wondering: How can we trust this president and this administration, when America’s most loyal friend in the Middle East has been thrown under the bus?
It’s difficult to say how the Cain Doctrine would apply to the Middle East’s other countries, especially those affected by the “Arab Spring,” and to nations elsewhere in the world. I’m not trying to escape the broader issues, but I think a president should first be briefed on classified intelligence about America’s relationships before offering opinions.
The public doesn’t know the answers to those questions and neither do I. Do I want to get out of Afghanistan? Yes. The only question is when. The two biggest mistakes we can make in Afghanistan are (1) to leave too soon if we can win, and (2) to stay too long if we can’t win. My plan would be to figure out: Can we win, or not?
The media doesn’t like that answer. But the public loves that answer because it’s honest. There’s more that I don’t know than I do know.
What I do know is that I would clarify our mission and our ability to prevail in a given situation. That would mean asking the right questions and figuring out policy based on information about those nations’ weapons capabilities, because it’s not just about bombs and bullets; it’s about bombs, bullets, and free enterprise and economics.
Another area where the media just doesn’t like what I have to say is on the thorny issue of Sharia law. The purveyors of political correctness want us to let down our guard on issues like that so that they can seep into American life.
As a knowledgeable friend of mine has pointed out, the United States is based on a written Constitution, while Islam is a religious-political ideology. I suggest that people read Tony Blankley’s The West’s Last Chance. In it he tells how Europe has become conflicted because of the gradual infusion over time of Islam’s religious and political system, and that
some European nations are having a difficult time making rulings as to when to apply Sharia law and when to apply the existing laws.
Our country simply wasn’t set up that way. We need to keep in mind that it was radical Islamists who murdered almost three thousand people on 9/11, tried to blow up Times Square, and committed the Fort Hood massacre. I don’t apologize for the way I feel.
So the Cain Doctrine on that one is: The United States of America will not invoke Sharia law—at least not on my watch.
American laws in American courts.
11
Post–High Noon at Centennial Olympic Park
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths.
—Proverbs 3:5–6
I don’t think that too many people were surprised when on Saturday, May 21, 2011, I formally announced my candidacy before an audience of fifteen thousand at Centennial Olympic Park in my hometown, Atlanta.
After all, more than a year earlier, in April 2010, I had teased the audience at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference with my reference to a dark horse candidate for our party’s 2012 presidential nomination.
Later, on September 24, 2010, I went a step further, announcing that I was actually considering seeking the party’s nomination. That was when things really took off: In December, in a reader poll conducted on the conservative website RedState.com, I was the surprise choice for the party’s presidential nomination, edging out the former vice presidential candidate and governor of Alaska Sarah Palin. The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg weighed in at that time, writing: “It’s hard to imagine him amounting to more than an exciting also-ran.”